Drowning in Myself
by Sky.Fay
Summary: Japan-born, full Scottish girl Firinne McAvoy has transferred to Iwatobi High School, and is about to swept into the crazy world of the swim team! But is she going to be able to handle an old friend, a budding romance, and the antics of her peers? She finally has the chance to open up to someone, and she might take it. She just hopes it's for the best.
1. Hello

"Where the hell is this room?" Firinne Makoto McAvoy trudged up the stairs to a level she was sure she had already been on. Twice. For this building being much smaller than the last school's she had been in everything was much more confusing, and everything looked the same. She really would have preferred to not be too late. Firinne, or Effy as she was called by her parents, and old friends, wanted to blend in with the crowd. That was a bit difficult when you were full-blooded Scottish. She even had the bright red hair to top it off.

Nearly every native she met in this country would speak to her in English, or would ask if she was here with an exchange program, but she didn't blame them. How could they possibly know that her parents, who had lived in Scotland, and had owned a very successful graphic design company, had decided to move to Japan to help with the expansion of their company, and ended up liking it so much they decided to stay, and start a family. Thankfully, because of it, Effy was fluent in English, and Japanese from a young age.

About a year ago her parents had talked about moving out of the middle of the bustling city of Tokyo, and here she was now. Stuck in a cute, little town on the shore, full of people who didn't know her. It was a fresh start. Time to be someone different, someone new. It didn't matter too much though. She only had one year, and then she would go to University; her only goal was to be first in her class here, as she had been nearly every other year before at her previous one.

Finally she stopped slowed at a door, which was being pulled shut. Her hand reach out to yank at the handle. She drew back, realizing that may have been a bit brash, and a little rude. Her own hazel eyes flicked up to the startled, bright green ones of the boy who had been pulling the door closed. He stared at her for a moment before allowing her swing open the door, and shuffle into the classroom. She shoved the note from the main office at the teacher, which had excused her from the weekly morning assembly, and for being tardy to class.

She went to sit at the closest, and only, available seat, but was stopped by the boy who had nearly shut the door on her. The teacher nodded at him, and he cleared his throat lightly.

"Excuse me, would you mind introducing yourself?" He said it slowly, as if he didn't quite expect her to understand. She was quick to answer.

"I am McAvoy Firinne, I moved here from Tokyo, I am seventeen-years-old. I am very excited to be studying here with all of you." Her face remained a deadpan, and her words were even, and fast. She relished in seeing the mild surprise on everyones face, including the boy's.

"Alright, well," he said after a moment, "You may sit there, behind me." He smiled nearly too kindly, as she shrugged to the seat she had originally been aiming for. "Tachibana Makoto," she tensed in her seat at his first name, as it was her very own middle name, but she ended up with her head in the clouds by the time he was calling role. Her pencil found its way to a notebook, and wonderful pictures erupted from the thin canvas. "Nanase Haruka…? McAvoy Firinne?..."

"Hai." She lifted her hand a few inches into the air, and kept drawing as he went down the list. Every other person barely made a noise as he read. This was the beginning of their second trimester now, and it looked like everyone already knew everyone else. In that moment she gave up the small hope that she could make any friends. Her parents had been sure to remind her that she needed to stay focused on her grades especially here. The courses may be a little easier compared to her old private school, but she still needed to keep her head above water.

"It's nice to meet you McAvoy-san." She jumped, realizing the boy who had taken roll was sitting in front of her now. His soft, brown hair nearly fell in front of his grassy eyes. She nodded once, looking back down at her notebook. "Do you have a pencil?" A smart remark was at the tip of her tongue, but she held it back, insteading opting to hand him the utensil with a silent, empty smile. He hadn't turned back around in his seat yet though. "Do you know anyone with the name Matsouka?" He noticed how she tensed for a millisecond, and the pained expression that barely brushed over her face, but didn't say a word about it. Effy shook her head, and waited for him to turn to the front again.

She took a breath, and glanced up at the teacher who was finally speaking. He was droning on about grammar, something that she was a bit fond of, but didn't really care to listen to at the moment. She was exhausted, and tired. Lately, that's all she had really been feeling. Tired. She was constantly tired. Not really in the sleepy way though, she just didn't want to do anything. It was a terrible, and dull feeling, and she wanted it to go away, but there was no way around it that she could think of. The dullness wouldn't go away either. Everything seemed dreary all the time, and she felt bitter about most things.

In a way, all she really wanted was to feel something. Mostly happiness or joy really though.

_And I've done some stupid things to try to feel something._ She rambled on in her head. _But I'm done with that now. That's done. That's over with. I won't do that again. I can't do that again. I don't even have a Winter Uniform yet, there's no way I can get around it this time. I mean, unless someone notices the scars, but even then I'll just have to calmly explain, and they'll just have to understand…._

The day came, and went with ease, and when it was over she stayed to clean classroom. After the first class her mind hadn't wandered, and her thoughts had mostly stayed on the teachers, and how she couldn't see around the enormous, broad-shouldered kid in front of her. The kid who had been sitting behind her, she thought his name was Haruka Nanase, had left almost as quickly as possible, and Tachibana, the kid in front had followed suite. Apparently they had something important to do.

She noticed something on Tachibana's desk, and picked it up as she was about to leave.

* * *

"Hey! Mako-chan! Haru-chan!" Nagisa came like a whirlwind up the steps behind him.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Haru muttered. He knew his words were pointless, and his tone seemed to convey it.

"I heard that there's going to be a transfer student in your Class! I think Gou told me she's from England, or Ireland, or one of those places."

"Does she speak Japanese?" Makoto asked absentmindedly.

"I don't know. I guess so, I mean probably! She has to know a little. And, hey! Maybe she can help you with your little English problem." Nagisa chuckled.

Makoto tensed for a moment.

"I'm just joking," he paused for a moment, "I'm sorry, I know how serious this is."

Makoto's English marks had gotten low lately. So dangerously low that his parents had threatened to take him off of the swim team.

"Anyway, don't you think it's a little late for someone to be transferring in like this. Especially to the last year of school. It seems a bit odd that she didn't stay in the same place, even if her parents really needed to move." The shortest one wondered aloud.

"I'm sure they had their reasons." Makoto gave a gentle smile with his words, and glanced at Haruka. "I wonder how Gou knows her."

"I'm not sure actually. I don't think she does, she said something about knowing her through her mom knowing her mom. I think she said something about her having a weird name, but her middle name is something traditionally Japanese. Do you think her parents met in Japan? Or maybe she's half Japanese. Or maybe her parents are just obsessed with Japan…? Ooh, I know-"

"Nagisa, you missed your homeroom." Haruka was trailing a little ahead of the other two, and didn't even turn his head to look back at him. He hadn't really been paying attention to anything the blond had been saying. Of course, the only thing on his mind was the water. Makoto had yanked him out of his house before he had the chance to take a bath to show him some cat he had found on the street, and decided to care for. It was kind, but pointless really. He could have shown him at any other time. So Haruka's mind, body, and soul were all centered on the water, and the waves. Thinking about how nice it would be to just run up to that pool right now, and jump in. Or maybe to just skip school, and sit in his tub all day, or maybe even go down the shore.

He looked back over at Makoto, who was talking.

"...and you know I've never met Rin, and Gou's mom. I think I vaguely remember seeing her at one of our meets when we were kids. But I can barely remember now."

Haru nodded along with his friends words, barely gripping onto the sound of his voice.

* * *

"So did you meet the transfer girl?" Nagisa hopped into the locker room.

Makoto blushed, and glanced at the door, pulling his goggles out of his bag. He opened his mouth a few times, but couldn't quite find words to describe her.

"Yes."

"Well what was she like?"

"A bit...she wasn't rude, but she didn't...I'm not sure. She didn't really have an accent. And I believe, if anything she may be Scottish."

"Did she know Gou?"

"No, I don't believe so." He wasn't too sure of that answer, but carried on anyway.

"What did she look like?"

Makoto sighed, his hand nearly on the door handle. Nagisa was already changed, but wasting time. "She had red hair, and...her eyes were a bit strange, but pretty. They were hazel, but one had green flecks, and the other had blue flecks. I don't know, I mean she was a little pale, but had a couple freckles on her nose. She was a little shorter than you, and even Gou."

"Did she-?"

"We have to practice Nagisa, come on now."

* * *

Effy clutched the notebook in her hands. Makoto probably already thought she rude for her lack of response in class today. He had been polite all through the day, and had actually made a few attempts to start a normal conversation, but it hadn't worked. She rejected him every time, and she couldn't figure out why. Maybe it was hard to trust his kindness and generosity in a world of people who tended to use such emotions, and actions so sparingly.

She stepped out onto the echoing pavement, and stared straight ahead at the two boys who were already in the pool. One boy was in her homeroom. She remembered his name to Haruka. The other she had no clue about.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun, almost startled. A head of maroon hair, and deep eyes greeted her. It was Gou. She prayed that the girl didn't remember, or even really know her. Based on the look in her eyes, she didn't.

"Did you need something?" She asked formally.

"No, well, yeah, um...Tachibana Makoto left this in homeroom, and I was cleaning up, and found. I don't know, someone told me he would be up here, but if he's not then it doesn't really matter. I suppose I can give it to him tomorrow, but we did have English homework so I figured this would be a bit im-"

"McAvoy-san." Makoto appeared behind Gou, smiling plainly.

Firinne furrowed her brow, and blushed at his walking in on her rambling.

"Gou-chan! Help me with Rei!" Nagisa called from the other end of them pool. Makoto chuckled at the three, and turned back to the girl in front of him.

"You left this." She shoved the notebook into his hands.

He looked surprised for a moment, then grateful as a look of relief washed over his face.

"Thank you, very much, McAvoy-san."

"Welcome." She nodded, and went to turn to leave again.

"Wait," he called out. Before she could spin on her heel to turn around, Makoto realized how revealed he felt. He was wearing his jacket, and swim pants, but that didn't make a difference. He felt like he was under a microscope when she looked at him. "Do you prefer being Firinne-san, or McAvoy-san? You're Japanese is perfect, and you don't seem a stranger to any of th-"

"I was born in Japan, Tachibana-san. I know it seems a bit odd, and I understand where you're coming from, but you're wrong. And I realize I have a slight accent or lilt. My parents are both from Scotland, and they decided to move to Japan when expanding their business here. A bit complicated, but that's neither here nor there. They started up a family here after they had moved, but I understand why you thought that. I mean, I'm rather fluent in English as well. It's much less complicated, and makes more sense than my own story."

"Oh."

He seemed a little speechless. Though he wasn't certain whether it was because he didn't expect her to speak as much as she did, or from the slight pang of guilt for assuming.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. It doesn't really matter; if I was you I would've just assumed as well."

"Ah! Oh, yes, of course. I'm terribly sorry. But thank you bringing me my notebook, I completely forgot."

"You're welcome...again." She made another turn to leave.

"Oh, and you can just call me Makoto."

Spinning back on her heel for a final time, she smiled tightly. She really had things to do, and places to be. If she wasn't home soon her mother would have her head. "Then you can call me Firinne." And before he could say another word she dug her heel into the ground, and walked away as quickly, and surely as she could.

"You seemed to like her."

Makoto yelped as Nagisa jumped up behind him.

"Yes, she seems nice."

"Eh, she seemed a little cold. Distand. Y'know, not too personable."

"No," Makoto weakly attempted to defend the girl. Though her words had been average, and simple, her body and words had been closed off, and monotone, and strained, like she was annoyed nearly the entire time. "She's just a bit shy. Like Haru." Nagisa shook his head, but smiled.

"I'm being serious, you should ask her to tutor you in English."

"Nagisa…"

The blonds face went dark for a moment. "Gou agrees, you are staying on this team, and you can't do it yourself. In front of Rin she seems like the best, and easiest candidate. Even if she isn't too friendly."

"It's okay. I'll be fine on my own. I've began to study hard each night, and it's been helping. School has only started back up. Don't worry yourself about it too much for now, alright?" Makoto shucked off his jacket, and dived in. Nagisa shook his head, but jumped in after him.

* * *

"How was your first day of school, Effy?" A voice echoed through the house as soon as she walked in. She nearly responded in Japanese, but remembered her parents has decided to use only English when they were at home.

"It was alright I guess. Nothing I hadn't heard before though. It was all a little introductory, but I got some homework. For maths, science, Japanese, and English." She set her bag on the ground, and slipped her shoes off.

"I mean did you make any friends?"

She shrugged, and walked into the living room to be greeted by her father's back, and typing fingers. He had the same curly, bright red hair as her, but instead of her blue, and green hazel eyes he had the same bright blue that speckled her right eye. His skin was plain, and nearly devoid of any marks like freckles. She didn't look too much like her mother, who was currently at work. Her mother had long, straight mousy brown hair, her skin was far darker, and covered in freckles, and she had pretty, deep brown eyes.

"I don't know. I guess not. I didn't really try. I gave a kid his notebook back because he left it in the room when we were cleaning up because he left a little early to go swimming."

Mr. McAvoy momentarily stopped clicking on his laptop.

"To go..._swimming_?"

"No, no, I mean he's on the swim team, and he went up to their practice because he had finished his part of the work that day. Since he took role in the morning, and did a few other things he got to leave a little earlier."

"Oh, so making friends with the swim team boy?"

"Meh…not really. Did you know that Rin's sister goes to this school?"

"Oh, I didn't know that he had a sister. Then, I never really knew too much about that boy in the first place."

"I told...you knew he had a sister at some point. I know that much."

"That was a few years ago."

* * *

Firinne poked at her food. She wasn't that hungry, and was more in the mood for Western food. Sadly, her father only cooked those types of meals three times a week, and today was not one of those days. Three other days of the week her mother would make something, then the final day she would cook something.

"So I heard you made a friend? With a little, swimmer boy?"

"Nope." She answered flately.

"What was his name?"

"Makoto Tachibana."

"Heh, it's the same as…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Her mother paused, almost dangerously, flashing her a tight smile. "I think you need to stop with the attitude miss. You've been a bit too snippy."

She had to literally bite her tongue to stop from screaming in frustration. It didn't seem to matter what or how she said something, there was always something a little wrong with it no matter what.

* * *

**Hey, so, yeah first Free! story. It isn't much to work with right, but if you could tell me what you think that's be great! :) Right now I'm working on finishing up my Adventure Time fic so this may take a little bit to get into the swing of updating, but in a month or so it should be good :) In the meantime I'll try to update about once a week, but I'll have the next few chapters up as soon as possible, I just have to get through editing them right now! Thanks for taking the time to read!**

**-sky**


	2. Studies

"McAvoy-senpai!"

Firinne cringed at the loud, shrill voice echoing down the halls. She stared out the window, and hoped no one would notice that Nagisa was calling her out. Although, that's a bit difficult when you have such a Western name. He caught up to her with ease, and clasped a hand onto her shoulder. She tensed at his touch, and pulled away.

"Yes, what is it that you need? Shouldn't you be at swim practice anyway." The words had sounded less harsh in her mind.

"Do you get along with Mako-chan?"

She took a small side-glance at him. He was beaming like he always did, but this time a glint of desperation was shining from his eyes. "I suppose so, yes. He's very nice to me in class. I don't know why. I haven't done anything to deserve that from him."

"Oh, Mako-chan is kind to everyone."

She slowed to a stop near the exit, and lockers. "I don't mean to be rude, but I have to be home very early today, and I would like to know if there is any true point to this conversation." The surprised look on his face nearly made her chuckle, but she held it back. She didn't want him to think her too rude. Then his demeanor became very serious, and very dark in a matter of seconds, and any thoughts of laughing at him vanished.

"If Makoto doesn't get his marks up in English he's going to have to be pulled off the swim team. We already technically don't have enough people, but they still let us be a club, and join in tournaments. And we're a family; I don't know what we'd do if Makoto wasn't there. Everything would fall apart. Please, you need to help us, I would-!"

"No."

He took a step back from her, looking truly appalled.

She tried to get rid of the lump in her throat as Nagisa welled up, and gaped open his mouth like a fish.

"...What?" He whispered.

"I-I'm sorry," she spat out, "I can't. I don't have enough time. I spend so much of my own time studying, and I barely know Tachibana. Maybe if he had asked me, and even then I don't think I could. Besides, it's a bit presumptuous to assume I even know how to teach it. I mean I just have so many other things I do in the mean time, it'd be so difficult to come up with something, and I'm sorry that this'll hurt you, and you're friends, but there's nothing I can really do about it."

"B-but, there's got to be something…?"

"I'm sorry. No. It can't be helped. I'm sorry. I just don't think my parents would let me out either. It's difficult to say. I could think on it, but at this point I'm not sure that there's really anything in-"

"I get it." He said solemnly. "You don't have to make excuses. It's alright. Maybe I can find someone else. I'm sure Rin would help him." And with that he sprinted away toward the other end of the hallway. She felt hot tears well up in her eyes as the burning stares of the few people left in the hall drilled holes through the back of her head. Her feet had brought her out the locker room, slipped on her shoes, grabbed the rest of belongings from the locker before she realized she had started crying.

She couldn't even tell why. Maybe she felt bad for telling Nagisa no, or maybe the stress was finally getting to her. The scuffle with her mother the night before had been enough make her feel like a bottle ready to burst. It felt like at any moment she was going to break at any moment. Thankfully she hadn't yelled, or sobbed out. This was just simple, quiet crying. That was something much nicer than yelling, or being furious with the world. She generally tried to avoid feelings like those unless absolutely necessary.

Firinne had lied to Nagisa. She needn't be home early today. Her parents had planned to be out until around midnight.

She wished that she had something to look forward to when getting home. For a

while she had had a cat. A small, sickly, old tom-cat, named Jet, who had lived out the last good years of its life with her, and died only a bit before they had moved. Her life, and the house seemed empty without him. It sounded wrong to say, but she admitted that she wasn't distraught over the death. She had been expecting it after all.

* * *

Firinne flipped through one of her maths notebook looking for the one formula she hadn't quite been able to remember in class earlier that day. School was done, but she had lingered, not wanting to go home.

As she leafed through the pages, a piece of paper fell out. It was small, about the size of her palm, and a delicate pale blue color. It was carefully folded down the middle, as if someone had taken their time to make sure it was perfect.

She scooped it off the ground, and turned as two bodies nearly crashed into her. It was Rei, and Gou. They were both panting.

Gou spoke up first. "McAvoy-senpai, you need to tutor Makoto in English!"

"I'm not good enough at teaching to help him!" Rei whined. "And none of us could bare to lose him from the-"

"No." She snipped. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

Turning again, she jogged away.

* * *

When she was finally off the school grounds she paused for a breath, and to look at the note.

With shaking hands she unfolded it slowly, certain there was going to be something rude cruelly inscribed in it. Instead, she received a pleasant surprise.

_**Chestnut Trees**_

_**I would scale the mighty chestnut trees**_

_**Growing in your eyes**_

_**If it meant that I could look upon **_

_**Your body, for a time**_

_**I would swing all through the branches **_

_**Recount your visions passed**_

_**Bask beneath the shadowed canopies**_

_**Swallowed in the black**_

_**Yes, I think I would quite like it there**_

_**I'll go one day. Perhaps**_

_**-Sam Clemens**_

A steady blush rose up into her cheeks. The note was signed with two wavy scribbles, but not in kanji. It was in the Roman Alphabet. She could barely make out the initials, but they looked like _N.I. _if she squinted enough.

Shrugging, and trying to not smile, she stuffed the note in her blazer pocket. She glanced up at the street, still grinning like an idiot. Though it was nice to get a sweet, poetic note, it was nicer to know who wrote it, and she didn't know. Obviously the person who shoved it in her locker wasn't Sam Clemens, she had no idea who that was, and even if someone with that name went to this little school, she was sure she would've noticed him or her by now.

But even the separate initials alluded her. She couldn't come up with a name for N.I.

The note made her feel like a giddy school girl, and she couldn't bubble down.

So she took the long way home. She didn't need her mother to see her like this, and chastise her for focusing on something other than school at this time of year. And she hadn't even made a single friend at school. Unless she counted that ridiculous swim club. Neither Nagisa, Rei, or Gou had been too pleased with her answer to not tudor Makoto so maybe she couldn't count them. Makoto seemed to think that they were friends, but she tried to deny that.

Her reasoning was vain, but she didn't try to deny that. She figured if they became friends, his unintentional flirting would get to her. In the long run, she realized, she would begin to like him, and the feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. It was a silly, and childish way to avoid emotions, but it had been working for the past three years so she relied heavily on it.

* * *

By the time she strolled into school the next day, she figured the onslaught of people pleading her to tudor Makoto would be over with. She thought that she had seen the entire team. She had walked to school early, and sat at her desk, staring past the row to her left, and out the window.

The rest of the class slowly filed in, some of them still giving her odd glances. She didn't mind though, at this point in her life she was used to it. Her eyes were glued to the window, wishing she could get out.

_I feel so selfish, and stupid for not saying yes. I'm going to ruin something for a group friends just because I'm an idiot, and don't want to be friends with that dork. Why couldn't I have just said yes? I wish I could take it back now, but I can't just go back, and say yes. But then they would probably hate me, and would just go to someone else instead. They said that they're friends with Rin, but it might not be the same one that…_

"McAvoy-san," she jumped at the voice, and shifted her focus to a boy sitting by the window. She remembered his name to be Haruka, but couldn't quite remember anything else too important about him; except that he and Makoto always came into school late together, and were very close friends. She readied herself to be pleaded with, and held her breath.

"Hai, Nanase-san?"

He looked to the front of the room where Makoto was busy talking with a small group of girls, blushing madly, and rubbing the back of his neck. Firinne felt herself shrug at the sight, but didn't say anything yet.

"We have a large English project due in a week."

She took a large breath in to yell at him, or scream no, or anything; but she didn't do a thing. She exhaled quietly.

"Fine," she said in a harsh whisper, making sure that he could hear her even though he was wistfully staring out of the window, cut off from the rest of the room. "I'll do it. We can start tonight. Just tell him I'll be waiting."

She tore out an unused, and unneeded notebook, flipping it open to it's first page. Scribbling out a list of things to do, she sighed. She was waiting for a simple thank you, or even a little nod of the head from the ingrate, but nothing came. Sighing again, she stared back down at the notebook even though she could feel someone's eyes on her.

Not wanting to look up she tried to stay glued to the notebook, but it didn't work. Eventually she glanced up catching the bright green eyes of a ridiculous gentle giant who she was willing to help. He looked as though he was going to grant her with the glimmer of a smile, but she rolled her own eyes, and stared back down at the lesson plan unfolding on the piece of paper before he could.

* * *

Firinne sat on a bench just outside of the school, and waited. She had texted her mother, telling her that she would be home late, and was tutoring another student after school. Her mother had sent back a simple '_k'_.

As she waited she wrote out more in the lesson plan. She had no idea how to teach, let alone how to teach something as complex, and difficult as a language. Even so, she had to give it shot for this mismatch group of friends. Though, as she sat she inwardly panicked. If she didn't teach him well enough, if this didn't go over well they would hate her. She would become even more of an outcast than she already was.

After what seemed like a day of waiting, she finally heard soft voices, and laughter from a few feet away, coming out of the school. She straightened her back, and popped up from her seat just as Nagisa and Rei skipped by. Haru, and Makoto were slacking behind, and walked by the old bench as Firinne spun around on her heel for face them. Her nose nearly hit Makoto's chest, and she backed up at once. She stared at the ground for a moment.

Haru kept walking.

"Why are sitting here, McAvoy-san?" He asked kindly, rubbing the back of his neck again.

"You should know. I told Nanase-sa…!" She trailed off, trying not to yell.

"I don't think I understand…"

"I'm tutoring you in English." She said with a huff, turning her back to him. "We're starting to tonight."

"Really, you don't ha-"

"Your friends informed me of the predicament you're in, and I'm going to help you. Each one of them asked me to help you so here I am. Do you want to stay on the swim team with your friends, or do you want to be kicked off because you failed our English project next week."

"I...but...alright. Thank you." He caught up to her, and smiled sweetly. She cringed to see him so grateful.

"Yeah, okay, well tonight you're just going to show me how much you know. And this isn't going to be some cute little, here's a little help with your English, let me coddle you. Nope! You will learn English, and be so fluent you won't be able to tell the difference between it, and Japanese!" She said resolutely. "Oh, and, we'll have to go to your house I'm afraid. I hope that's alright. At the moment I can't invite people over as we're still unpacking, and my parents are ashamed of their 'naked house'."

He didn't seem to know what to say. Or which one of her rambling sentences to respond to rather.

"So, ah, how am I going to show you what I know? Should I just try to speak or…?"

"I made up series of quizzes and questions for you to answer, and I'll grade them, and see how you did. Depending on that I'll create a lesson plan, though this week we'll be focusing on your English project, and getting that done, but we'll go from there."

"Heh, what exactly is the English project again?" He asked nervously, and half-heartedly.

"Weren't you paying attention? You have to use a modern English book you were supposed to read over the break, and write a ten page essay on it."

"Oh, yes, I knew that." He answered smoothly as they neared the train station.

He hadn't known that.

"I was wondering what exactly it supposed to be on. The characters, plot, themes…?"

"It can be on any or either or all of them. As long as you show basic understanding of the book, and write all of it in English. I won't do your work for you, but I will help. What book did you read?"

"I...ah...American Gods." He said slowly. Rei and Nagisa were nearly yelling in a playful argument, and Haru was off the the side, staring off into nothing again.

"That's a good book, it's by Neil Gaiman. You should read _The Alchemist_ and _Cloud Atlas_. All three of them are really beautiful books. They all have the same basic themes, but when you get to their core they become this fantastic kind of tri-force. I could give you those if you want. I mean after this English project, and maybe when we've progressed a little more of course. Or, I'm not sure when you would want them. Unless you don't want them at all of course, and they're all in English too so maybe it isn't such a…"

He couldn't help but smile and chuckle at her excitement, and sparkling eyes.

"W-what?! Stop laughing!"

"I've never seen you smile before, McAvoy-san."

She glared up at him for a moment, then back at the rattling tracks. The train was close.

"Don't get to used to it." She grumbled, as the doors creaked open, and they rushed aboard.

She found a comfortable seat alone, sitting across from the four boys, she stared out the window at the trees, and clouds that flew by. Trying to ignore the group across from her was difficult. Nagisa's whisperings could barely be called whispers, but rather talking in a hushed tone.

"What?! She told me, and Rei-chan no! And then she just says yes to Haru-chan."

"That is odd." Rei's voice picked up a little volume.

"Maybe...maybe she's in love with Haru-chan!"

As their laughter rose up, and died down she turned with a deadly look on her face. Nagisa, and Makoto, who were both sitting on the outside of the four-person seats, shrunk back as they felt her eyes burning into them.

"I chose to tutor Tachibana-san simply because I was tired of each of you inquiring me to, I felt bad, and I was worried other people may be mad because I tore apart their swim team."

Nagisa sunk further back into seat, nearly burrowing into Rei, while Makoto nervously laughed.

"Thank you again, I'm not sure how I can repay you though. Would you like to be paid for this?"

"No," crossing her arms, she stared straight ahead, "Getting time to do something other than sit at home, and cry about my feelings is payment enough." Makoto was speechless for a moment. "I was joking, Tachibana." She smirked as he apologized profusely.

* * *

After Rei, and Nagisa said their goodbyes, Makoto and Haru walked side-by-side back to their homes with Firinne trailing close behind. She knew her way around this area of the village, she realized later that she only lived around five or ten minutes away from Makoto and Haru.

Firinne had been in her own little world by the time they had arrived at Makoto's home. Her head had been so up in the clouds, she hadn't realized he had stopped, and had run into his broad back.

She stumbled back holding her nose.

"Ah! Oh, no are you okay, McAvoy-san?!" He slouched so he was on eye-level with her, and rested his hands on her shoulders. She flinched back from his touch, and held out a hand that grazed his chest to keep him far away. Rubbing her nose, she moved her hand away, and held both of her hands up to prove she was fine.

"Mako!" A shrill voice shouted as the door flung open. A little boy, who only vaguely appeared related to the boy standing in front of her, appeared in front of her.

"Mako-chan…?" A sleepier voice came from behind the boy. A little girl who looked a bit more like him than the boy, or at least Firinne thought so, appeared in the doorway.

"McAvoy-san, this is my little sister, and little brother; Ran, and Ren."

She nodded at the little ones, who dragged their big brother into the house, and she followed suite.

"This is Firinne McAvoy, she just transferred to Iwatobi. She's helping me with my English." He added hastily as his smiling father appeared in the doorway. "We have a project coming up that will bring up my grade."

"I assume you are fluent in English?" Mr. Tachibana asked easily. He had the same tall stature, and fluid smile as Makoto. Even so, Effy tried not to inwardly cringe at the assumption. But he was correct, and she had to give him that. He was correct.

"Yes, I am. Though, I suppose, technically Japanese _is_ my first language."

As they slipped off their shoes, and Mako glided toward the stairs, he filled in for his father.

"Her parents expanded their business here before she was born. They're from Scotland."

* * *

Effy was surprised at how neat his small room was. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but not this for some reason. Observing the pictures around the room she found one in particular that was interesting. There were four little boys. Obviously the one looking away from the camera was Haru, and Mako was smiling, and…

"...Rin." She hadn't seen him in so long

"That's a picture of the swim team I was on when I was younger. You already know Haru-chan, and Nagisa, and that's-"

"Rin." She finally moved her eyes from the picture to look down at Mako who had kneeled beside her to look at the photo on the low shelf. He was nearly as tall as her on his knees.

"You know Rin?" He asked carefully.

"Well I suppose I did. We used to have a vacation home in Australia, and he went to a school there. I would see him sometimes, and he was the only friend I had when we were there."

"He's changed quite a bit, and he actually goes to a school not that far away now." He kept his eyes locked too steadily on hers. She felt the need to look away, feeling too examined by his gaze.

"That's good." She stood up straight, and spun on her heel to sit down on his floor in front of the bed. Her bag plopped down with her as she pulled out the notebook. "Alright, now if you need to speak while doing these you'll speak in English. **If you need to speak while you do this quizzes speak in English.**"

She said it twice. Once in Japanese, and then in English. He nodded both times, seeming to understand, and gently took the notebook from her. He sat on the bed with a sigh, and started at questions.

He leaned down beside her a moment later. Tapping her shoulder to get her uninvested from her book. Slightly surprised, she looked up.

"You wear glasses." She noted aloud. He appeared confused for a moment, and then seemed to remember the frame upon his face.

"Ah, yes, and I-"

"**English.**" She said with her skewed Scottish lilt. It had a touch of Japanese, but it was mainly a heavy Scott sound; something she was proud of, and intended to keep.

"**Do you need this...tonight? Tomorrow morning?**" He grinded out. Surprisingly, his accent wasn't as thick as she had expected it to be.

"**Tonight if you can. I would rather be able to go over it tonight instead of when I'm waiting for you to get out of swim practice. I'd rather be spending my time planning out our next lesson for that night during that time.**"

"**Okay**," he leaned back again, "**Thank you**." The room was silent for a moment. "**And you did not use English when you said I have**…" instead of saying the word, maybe he didn't know it, he cheekily tapped the frames of his glasses, and went back to reading. She stared at him speechless.

* * *

"I really liked her, she seemed nice." Mako's mother gushed as he studied English book.

"Yes, she is. A bit cold, and odd at first, but kind."

"I'm glad she's doing this for you." His father beamed.

"She was pretty!" Ren squealed.

"Yeah," Ran yawned, "I really liked her too. Her hair was really bright, and her eyes were pretty. What color is that?"

"They're hazel," Makoto answered quickly. "Well one is brown-ish and blue, and the other is brown-ish and green."

"You pay attention to her a lot, Onii-chan."


	3. Papers

The next afternoon was largely the same. Effy waited on the same bench during their swim practice, writing out the lesson plan for the night. It was simple introductory lesson so he wouldn't have to worry about too much. She was surprised he had completed all of the questions, and quizzes, and well.

Most of his answers hadn't been the best, and she could see why he wasn't doing well in English. She only hoped that she could help. His father, and mother had been so kind, and his younger siblings were adorable; she couldn't let him down or his friends.3

She found herself getting lost in thought the more she delved on the idea of him failing. Her mind travelled between that, and possibly seeing Rin again. If Makoto had been friends with him in the past, and she was sure that he still was, maybe she could see him again.

"Would he even remember me? It's been so long…" she thought aloud wistfully. Sitting up, and tucking her skirt under herself, she curled up on the bench, and pulled a book out of her bag. It took every ounce of her energy to read it, and she found herself nearly dozing off with each word, but she was bored, and needed something to pass the time.

She had stayed up late the night before finishing up homework, completing her own English project, and grading Makoto's paper, and was paying the price now. But she couldn't fall asleep on a bench in front of the school. Someone was bound to walk by, and see her. Besides, she realized that it would be a mistake.

"McAvoy-san?" A strong hand grazed her shoulder, and she sat up straight with eyes wide open. "You seem a little sleepy." The gentle giant smiled sweetly, but she grimaced.

"I wasn't sleeping." She said gruffly. Her voice sounded like that off a seventy-year-old smokers, and her legs were still a little wobbly.

"Uh-huh…" he said gently, reaching down to pick up her bag, and book, which had fallen to the ground during her cat-nap, and handed them to her. With a rough, and muttered 'Thank you', she accepted them from him.

* * *

"Tachibana-san, you didn't do-"

"Please," he stopped her gently, opening the door, "Don't call me that. I'd rather you call me by my first name."

She raised an eyebrow as she followed him inside.

"Alright, Makoto," she said slowly. His last name had felt uncomfortable on her tongue, she knew she had been too formal, and was regretting it now. His first name was smooth, and easy to say. "And I suppose that you can call me Effy. But you didn't do too well on those quizzes, and we have a lot to cover, but we'll start on your English project or essay really, for now."

"I don't mean to interrupt again, but isn't your name Firinne?"

"I was finished anyway, and yeah, but my parents, and my old friends would call me Effy, so that's alright too." She glanced at his younger siblings arguing about something in the kitchen while his mother sat in a chair tiredly watching them. She made quick eye contact with Mrs. Tachibana a moment before they were at the steps, and smiled kindly at her.

"But do you prefer either? I'm sorry if it offends you, but I prefer your full name. It's beautiful like...eh," he tripped up the third step, but quickly caught himself. Effy found herself giggling under her breath at his clumsiness.

"Thank you, and no I don't prefer. I was just trying to be kind. Most people I know think that Firinne sounds too formal, or odd I suppose. It's not my favorite name anyhow. My parents wanted something very traditional, and old, and...I'm not really sure."

He smiled softly, and sweetly at her babbling.

"Either way, I like it."

* * *

When they entered his room she plopped onto the floor again, and pulled the notebook out of her bag with a small sigh. Makoto trailed slowly behind her, and quietly sat on the bed.

"You can sit up here, you know? You don't have to sit on the floor."

She turned to face him on the floor. "It's fine. I like this." Her eyes kept darting over to the picture of the group of smiling boys.

"Oh, you said you knew Rin before right? You used to go to Australia, and you became friends with him there."

"**Yes**, **and did you forget the rule about only speaking English when we got into your room**?"

"**No**," the blood rushed up in his face, and he sunk back into the bed, "**I thought you had, and I**…"

"**I'm joking, calm down Makoto**. **You're so easily flustered**." He didn't seem to quite understand the last word she had spoken. "**Uhh...panicked, worried**…?" He nodded once, almost pretending he had known all along.

"**How long has it been since you have seen Rin**?"

"**Three years**."

His shirt hiked up as he leaned across his bed to grab something off of the top of his drawers.

"**It's a picture of him from a little while ago.**" He floated her down a small photograph, much like the one of the four of them when they were little. Makoto watched as something softened in her eyes when she looked at the photo. She smiled more softly, and looked more peaceful than he had ever seen her. A small rush of heat flooded his cheeks, and he looked away from her, giving an only slightly forced smile.

"**Anyway**," she gently pushed the photo back into hands, "**We should start. I'll show you some pictures, and you have to tell me in English what it is. We'll only do it for a little while though, and then we'll get started on the English project.**"

"**Are you sure about the English project**?"

"**What do you mean**?"

"**You need to work on yours**."

She scoffed, resting her chin in her hands and staring up at him. "**I finish mine last night**."

"**Wh-eh..how-bu-**!"

"**I wouldn't fall asleep on a bench in front of the school waiting for you just for fun**."

"**Oh, right**…."

* * *

When they were nearly done, and were about to start his English essay, she said he didn't have to speak in English any longer. He gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, that was exhausting."

"Maybe, but you're better now, so that's all that matters. Just show me what you have for the English essay so far, please." She stretched her back up, and then stood, cracking her neck. Makoto was curled up at the head of his bed presumably searching for the paper on the desk beside his bed. Firinne took the chance, and quietly sat on his bed while he searched, yawning.

"Found it!" He yelped joyfully, and sprung back to the middle of the bed, nearly falling into her. "Sorry," he gasped, "I thought you were still on the floor!"

She snickered at his franticness. "It's alright, Makoto, you're fine."

He handed her the paper, looking in the other direction, and sighing.

"It's not that great, and I should've tried a little harder, but…"

"It's okay, it's better than I thought it might be." She sighed, squinting to understand one of the words. "I'm just going to make some grammar, and spelling corrections. You're smart, you know what the book is about."

He really did. He had skimmed through it the night before. Researched everyone elses idea on the main plot, and characters, and themes, and had written it out as quickly as possible the night before, and for some time while they were on their lunch break.

"I assume Rin still swims." She said absentmindedly, marking his paper here, and there. Makoto was leaning against the wall, and nodded slowly.

"Yes, that's how we met again. Well, sort of. He left when we were going into middle school, and we hadn't heard anything from him after really. We heard that the place where we used to swim was being torn down, so on some stupid whim Nagisa, Haru, and I decided to go."

"It was Nagisa's idea, huh?"

He chuckled, glancing at all the red marks on his paper, and becoming nervous. "Of course, but we went, and...it was really creepy, and dark because we went in the middle of the night, but Rin was there too. Anyway, he challenged Haru to a swim competition, and they were about to before they realized the pool didn't have any water in it." He laughed lightly, and she smiled despite herself. "It was a bit tense, but it's okay now that I think about it."

"That's all he would talk about. He would talk about how he was going to go pro, and become an Olympic swimmer all because…"

"...His father." Makoto finished sadly.

"Yeah, it's weird thinking about it now. I haven't seen him in so long. I didn't forget about him, it's kind of hard to, but he doesn't exactly look the same as he did three years ago."

Makoto took a breath, and it sounded as if he was about to speak, but no words came out.

"I didn't know him before he moved to Australia, so maybe I'm wrong, but I think he built up a shell around himself. Each time I would go down he would be a little more distant. It seemed like he needed to force himself to be cold, and distrusting though. That just doesn't seem to be in his nature. I mean, a bit obsessive, and determined, and maybe a little hostile, but he's not cold. He cares, and I think that might have scared him.

"Maybe he looked at the people around him, and thought he needed to be better than them. Less...human. All he needed to do was swim, and swim, and swim, and he would be the best. It wasn't supposed to matter who he knocked down along the way, but it did."

Makoto's eyes widened at her words. This was only the second time he had heard her talk so passionately about something, and he loved it. He loved hearing the ups, and downs in her voice, and her slight accented lilt making her words even more interesting for some reason. Everything she said was so poetic to him, and he couldn't figure out why.

"He's changing himself back to who he is." Makoto said at last.

"That's good."

And she was gone again. Wrapped up in her own secret, tight, closed up world he could only seem to take a glimpse into for moments at a time. It was frustrating.

"Here you go," she handed him back a few pages with corrections galore, "You didn't do that bad, but I'm picky, and our teacher probably is too."

He glanced over it for a few seconds, and then set it aside with a sigh.

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Why are you still wearing a jacket? It's so warm in here."

"I don't know," she shrugged, sinking back into herself. Hey eyes became cold, and distant. "I just feel like it I suppose. I should be going now, anyway. We have more homework." She stood up with straight knees, and headed for the door.

"Oh! Of course! And," he cleared his throat consciously, and stood by her slouching so he was the tiniest bit closer to her short height, "I'm not holding you back from your other studies right? I just want to make sure that this isn't hurting you academically."

"I'm first in the class. I can afford losing a few places to help out a dork like you."

He smiled sadly, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks, here I'll walk you down, Firinne."

His politeness nearly made her cringe. She knew that she should be used to it, that he was being sincere, but it didn't feel like that. Sickly sweet niceness had always had a negative effect on her, usually it was people just being rude.

"Thank you," she said sullenly.

As the walked down the stairs a sweet smell rose up. His mother was cooking dinner, and talking with his father. They were both so sweet, and kind, and gentle with each other. Firinne felt her stomach knot up. She hadn't heard couples be that kind with each other in a long, long time.

Suddenly, the door was opened in front of her, and she had slipped her shoes back on.

"Oh," she said plainly. But there was an air of tenseness behind her voice.

"What? Is something wrong?" Makoto hurriedly asked.

"No, I just didn't realize how late it was. It's just a lot darker outside than I thought it would be." She swallowed, and stepped into the blackness.

"I could walk you home if you like."

"N-" she could feel her muscles tense up, and slowly release, and tense up again. Her eyes darted around the blackness thinking she saw shapes here, and there. Her hands were shaking in her pockets. Her bag slipped an inch down her arm, and she jumped, thinking someone had touched her. It all happened in a few moments, but it felt like forever. "Actually," she spun around to face him with eyes glued to the ground, "That would be nice."

She looked up again to see him smile in triumph, and pull on his stupid, bright orange sneakers. He leaned back, and yelled something to his parents about walking her home.

* * *

"Thank you," she grimaced at the ground, and finally looked up at him. "It was very kind of you."

He grinned, and bowed his head. "You're welcome, Firinne."

"Goodnight, Makoto."

* * *

**Well this is the end of the introductory stuff, and we'll get into the real story real soon thankfully. Please review it means the world to me. What are your predictions for the next few chapters? Predictions for other character interactions? **


	4. Friends

"Can I go out today?" Firinne looked up from behind her book. Her words little more than a whisper over the clicking of phones, and laptops. Her mother, and father didn't even glance up from behind their devices.

"Where to?" Her mother asked at last. Her eyes flicked up from behind the screen for a second.

"Well, the boy that I tutor, and some of his friends were planning on seeing one of their old friends, and they invited me to come along. They're meeting at some public swimming pool."

Her mother opened her mouth, but before she could speak from behind the screen, her father shut his laptop closed with a click, and turned to her. "Who are they meeting?"

"Do you remember Rin?"

"Oh, is he here now?"

"Yeah," she glanced down at the page number of her book, and closed it by her side.

"Alright, just text one of the address when you get their just in case."

"Thanks." She grimaced at her mothers illuminated, and concentrated face.

* * *

"McAvoy-senpai! Over here!" Nagisa cried as she marched into the parking lot. Cringing, she hurried to the group. Gou, and Rei were complaining about Haru, and Makoto being late. They sat on the curb each one piping up with their own pointless comment every now, and then.

"McAvoy-senpai?" Gou, leaned forward so Firinne could see her from behind Nagisa.

"Yes?" Her voice was a bit shaky, and tiny bit frightened. She hadn't expected any of them to speak to her while Makoto wasn't here.

"You knew my brother, you said."

"Oh, well yes. I suppose I sort of did. I saw him a few times whenever my family would go down to Australia on vacation."

"Do you think he remembers you?" She asked carelessly.

"I doubt it. I haven't seen him in three years, and it's not as if we were terribly close before. Just simple conversation."

"Ah…" Gou nodded, and leaned back.

"You knew Rin-senpai too?!" Rei slumped over, and held his head in his hands.

"Oh, it doesn't-"

"Firinne! Nagisa! We're here!" Makoto was dragging Haru along with him the group of four, panting slightly. "Sorry we're late." He huffed.

"It's alright," Gou stood, wiping imaginary dust off her skirt, "My brother isn't here yet anyway."

Firinne stared down at her paint splattered, and stained high-waisted pants, and old Violent Femmes shirt tucked it as to not show the fraying edges. She hadn't quite known what to expect of everyone outside of their uniform, but she felt like she definitely didn't fit in. It didn't matter though, Makoto had been the one to invite her, and if they didn't like how she dressed it wouldn't really affect her. She stared back down at the book she had brought along, _Lord of the Flies_, just for security.

Nagisa jumped up from the curb, and stretched, then pulled Rei up, and started excitedly talking to him about something. She droned it out, and opened the book. No one seemed to notice her anyway, so she continued reading; half-hoping to be ignored for the rest of the time, but at the same time want to be involved. She felt a small barrier.

Glancing down at her thighs, she noticed a small hole in the fabric of the thin jean. A thin, pale scar peaked out from her skin. She carefully folded the fabric to hid her skin, and sighed carelessly, but quietly.

"...Firinne?" A soft voice broke her small trance. She jumped, and took a breath. It was just Makoto. "We decided to just go in, and wait there. Rin will be here in a few minutes." The rest of them were paces ahead, already walking through the door. He held a hand out to help her stand. "I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't mean-"

"I accept your apology. I was just thinking." She took his hand, and stood on her heels. Taking a step toward the entrance of the building, she stopped mid stride, and cleared her throat. "You can let go of my hand now, Mako."

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize. I really didn't mean to! I'm sorry, I just-!"

"Stop apologizing so much." She said hastily.

He heaved a soft sigh of relief, and walked in after her.

Just as the door closed behind him, it opened again.

"Rin-chan!" Nagisa spun on his heel, followed by everyone else. Firinne nearly fell over. She stumbled backwards over Rei's shoes, and then forward as Makoto took a step to the side to let Rin though, and to get away from the door. Tripping, she found herself nose to chest with him.

He glared down for a moment before his gaze softened.

"Firinne?" He asked after a short pause. She backed away from him, and finally looked up at him.

"Hi," she squeaked out. Her eyes travelled back down to the floor, and time seemed to pass. His deep chuckling came from nowhere, and suddenly she felt herself be enveloped in strong arms. He barely picked her off the ground before setting her down again, and holding her at arms length by her shoulders.

She looked up now, blushing madly.

He was grinning widely.

"Why are you here?!" He said moving forward. They all began to walk again.

"I told you when we met that I lived in Japan. I moved to Iwatobi not too long ago."

"But how are you-?!"

"She tutors Mako-chan in English!" Nagisa interjected.

She smiled, and shrugged. "Yes, it's funny isn't it. Somehow I managed to meet your friends." Her laugh was lighter than any of them had ever heard it be. Rin and her trailed ahead of the rest of group reminiscing while Makoto lingered behind everyone else.

* * *

Nagisa had kept his eyes glued on Mako as Firinne and Rin had hugged. He had never seen that look cross his face prior. He hadn't looked jealous, or angry. In fact, he had still been smiling dimly. His face had dropped though, as if he was realizing something suddenly. He looked defeated in the most horrid way.

"Mako-chan?" Nagisa nudged him to make him realize he wasn't moving along with the rest of the group.

"Oh! Sorry," he went to speed up, but Nagisa pulled him back. "Nag-"

"Mako-chan," he said carefully,

"What?!" He squeaked, and quickly cleared his throat. "What is it, Nagisa?"

Nagisa raised an eyebrow as Makoto's voice raised an octave higher.

"Never mind," he nearly rolled his eyes, jumping ahead to walk side by side with Gou, and Rei.

Makoto sighed, and wiped a hand down his face.

* * *

"Aren't you warm, senpai?" It took Effy a moment to realize that Gou was talking to her. She looked down at her long jeans, and boots, and shrugged.

"Not really, I guess not. Maybe a little, but it was freezing in my house this morning!"

Gou looked a bit confused for a moment, but then chuckled along with her.

"You're still carrying around a book?" Rin glanced down at her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I stopped doing this for a few years though, and it wasn't...I didn't have fun anywhere I went!" She joked. "I realize they're comforting, and I really should carry them around."

"What?!" He ruffled her hair, and patted her on the back a little harder than intended. "You weren't a nerd for a little while?" He teased.

"Nope! I gave up the life of a nerd for nearly four years. I just felt the need to gain it back when we moved I guess." Her voice dropped into something a little sadder.

Rin paused, and glanced down at her.

"Didn't you want to move? You always told me that…"

"I know, I know. I'm happy with the move, I honestly don't care too much about all the people that I left behind. My friends, and I were all going our separate ways anyhow. I suppose I just sort of miss being able to be as outspoken as I was. No, that's not it. Maybe I just miss the city. I don't really know what it is…"

"How close of friends are you with everyone here?" He asked to stop her rambling.

She shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Not very. I don't know a thing about Mako, and I'm closest with him I suppose since I tutor him, and stuff…"

"And stuff?" Rin cocked an eyebrow, and winked.

Effy gave him a friendly shove with her shoulder.

"Shut up, Rin-chan."

"Effy, maybe you just miss being able to duck into any group of people you want, and be able to know almost everything about them."

Again she shrugged.

"Stop with the shrugging." He scoffed.

"Rin-chan! Rin-chan!" Nagisa came up behind them. Setting a hand on either of their shoulders. "Is Ai-chan coming? Or even Yamazaki-senpai, or Momo-cha-"

"Ai was busy today, and Sosuke...he said he had something else to attend to."

"What about-?"

"I forgot to tell him I suppose." Effy looked slightly interested, and a bit bewildered. "I go to school with Ai, we're friends. He was my roommate last year. Sosuke is my old friend from elementary school."

She nodded politely, and lagged back as Nagisa continued to pester Rin about nothing in particular.

Attempting to pull her phone from her small bag, and walk didn't work out too well. She bumped back into a solid body, and shrunk into herself. Spinning on the ball of her foot to apologize, she realized it was Makoto.

He tittered hollowly. "We seem to have a problem running into one another." He smiled uneasily, and rubbed the back of his neck with the smallest amount of tenseness in his arms.

* * *

From his position slightly behind Rin, Nagisa glanced back narrowing his eyes, and smirking at the redhead, and the one with bright green eyes. They were laughing about something probably unimportant, both with light expressions brushed across their blushing faces.

* * *

**Well that was that, and a pretty quick one too, but it was just to introduce Firinne's personality around Rin. Not too different, but she's a little...lighter I suppose is a good word. She's just not as dark, and brooding, and slightly annoying when she's around him. I attempted to convey that anyhow, but it was so-so I know. Anyway, let's see how this pans out!**


	5. Cats

Yawning, Firinne crawled out of bed. Today would be a long day, but thankfully she wasn't tutoring Makoto tonight. They had handed in their English essays close to a week ago, and because of his high mark in it, she had decided to let the studying be a bit more lax. Besides, he had a swim meet later in the afternoon, and she didn't want to deal with him being tired, and attempting to learn.

So instead, after pleas for her to go to the meet from both Makoto, and Nagisa, she finally agreed. It was a bit away, and the club was leaving as soon as school ended. She wouldn't be able to come along with them, but she could still get there on time by train. Maybe.

She dragged on her uniform, and lazily popped in her contacts. Dragging her flat brush off the vanity she combed through her bright, pouffy locks. She desperately tried to get the curls to lay flat, or at least tame them the slightest bit, but no matter how much frizz serum, or hair spray she put in nothing worked. Sighing, and giving up, she let the beast win for today. She tied her hair back in a short, stubby ponytail.

_Something different for once_, she thought. Taking bobby pins she tried to pin the rest of her short, curly mop to her head.

As soon as she got on the train, her head drooped against the window, and her eyes fluttered shut. The train jerked as if it was about the leave, and the doors began to close.

"Hurry, Haru!" The unmistakable voice of the jittery boy jolted her back awake. Before her eyes could open fully, a body was pressed against her side. "Oh, sorry, ma'am, I didn't see you- Firinne?!" Mako actually seemed surprised. Haru looked at her across the seat, nonchalant as per usual.

"Shaddup...tryin' to sleep." She murmured. His chuckled was gravely, as if he had just woken.

"You should've done that last night." Haru said plainly.

She was ready to sock him.

"I was doing other things. Besides sleep is for the weak." Her head drooped onto Makoto's shoulder. He tensed for a moment, then let it go.

"I think in this case a _lack_ of sleep makes you weak."

"Whateve…" she drifted off again, then jolted as the train came to a sudden stop. "What?!" She sat upright, suddenly, very awake.

"We're here," he said, standing. "You fell asleep." He said with a laugh, holding out a hand to help her stand. She accept it, but skulked away, too embarrassed to look at him. Rubbing the redness from her face she realized something as she touched her face, and grew redder with embarrassment; she had drooled. "Don't forget to come to the swim meet after school!" She waved, she had remembered.

"Goddamn, stupid boy...couldn't just lean my head...window would've worked...but, ah, of course…."

Makoto hung back with Haru, smiling delicately at her grumbling figure.

"Mako-chan?" He jumped at the accusing voice behind.

"Nagisa, don't do that. You scared-"

"Mako." He said sternly again, pointedly looking up at the girl trudging a hundred feet ahead of them.

He glanced up at her, but only for a fleeting moment, and then back at Nagisa.

"What?" His voice raised up another octave as it had before.

The smaller blond dragged him, and the others forward, urging them towards the school. If they didn't hurry now, they would be late. "You're hopeless." He muttered, half-hoping Makoto would hear him. Though he did, he chose not to comment.

Firinne rushed to the train, with the small map in one hand, and her bag in the other. Her Pepto Bismol pink Doc Martens slapped across the pavement, and her knee-length black skirt, swished around as she jogged. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of garbage, and gasoline as she jumped past the doors.

There wasn't a soul on the train. The eerie silence was discomforting in a pleasant way. She took the closest seat, and plopped down. Sighing, she pulled out her phone, and headphones, turning her music up, and bringing her headphones from her neck to the crown of her head.

Her hands cradled her chin with her elbows dropped into her lap, and she inwardly groaned at herself. She had spent only ten minutes slapping on some grungy makeup, but it had taken nearly half an hour to get changed. She admitted she wasn't good at re-lacing boots in a timely manner.

_Bzzzt! Bzzzt!_

She jumped with the start of the incoming text message. Rubbing a bit of sleep from her drowsy eyes she stretched, and picked up the phone.

**UNKNOWN NUMBER:** **it starts in 10 minutes i hope ur close we are on the left side of the stands if u get here later try to find Gou.**

Shaking her head she realized it was probably Makoto, though she had no idea how he got her number. Cracking her neck the final bit of drowsiness left her, and she looked up at the lit sign a few feet away on the ceiling of the train. The next stop was the one she needed to get off at.

She hoped it would take her less than ten minutes to find her way to the meet.

Effy had been wrong about finding her way in less than ten minutes.

More than wrong in fact. It had taken her a good hour and a half to find her way to the general vicinity of the school. By the time she had finally found an entrance, it was too late.

People in swim wear, some looking victorious, and some looking a little more than defeated skipped, and trudged by her in increments. Everything smelled like bleach, and chlorine in the barren halls near the locker rooms. Her fast pace turned into a run, as she shouldered past people.

Tears welled up with the realization that she had missed it. She didn't know why she was so upset. Failing her friends had never had this kind of effect on her before. Maybe it was because they were new friends.

The were the kind of people she couldn't disappoint for a while.

As she lifted an delicate hand to wipe away one fallen tear with the long sleeve of her black shirt, she felt a person rudely knock into her elbow.

"Ah!" Her neck nearly snapped with how fast head was pointed toward the floor. "I'm very sorry, I was rushing! I should've paid attention-"

"Oh! Firinne?" Makoto beamed with excitement. Slowly, she looked up, a bit wary. "You came!"

"I'm a bit late though. Everything seems to be winding down. I'm sorry," she reached out, and then shrunk back once more looking as if she was scared she may get burned, "I got lost in the town, and the train was a bit delayed, and I couldn't even find the damn entrance to this-"

"Firinne," he grasped her shoulders, "There is one more race left. It's sort of a group relay. I'm first, and I have to get out there now. Let's go! You can stand just outside the locker rooms on the grass near the pool. There won't be time before the race starts to get up with Gou."

He said in a rush, already dragging her along by one of her shoulders.

"I wish you didn't look so sad all the time."

She felt a smallest bit of warmth rise into her cheeks. Her mouth opened to form words, but she didn't know what to say. By the time the ghost of a word had formed on her tongue they were outside, and he had moved his warm hand from her shoulder.

"I'd be happy to tell you how pretty you look today, but I think it's be more polite to inform you that I'm just happy you exist." With those final words he was gone. The last call for the swimmers to be there had come. His shoulders slumped a bit, and he ran a bit more stiffly than usual.

Her gaze slowly transferred to the other three swimmers from their team lined up behind him now.

She lifted a hand to her cheek feel how red her cheek was.

_He didn't mean that like that._

In her mind, the slightly incoherent words repeated over, and over, and over until they were nothing but a buzz. She barely noticed when the bell rang for the swimmers to begin. By the time she realized Makoto was in the water, he was already coming back.

She was transfixed with his features. He seemed so focused, and serious, she was almost frightened by how powerful he looked. It was as if he was a completely different person.

"You did so well, Makoto!" She praised as he jogged back with a towel draped around his neck. Now, instead of the soft vanilla, and musk he usually smelled of, there was chlorine, water, and fresh towels. In her mind, she shoved his past compliments to the back of her mind, and hid them in the dark, spider-webbed corners.

"Heh, thanks. We can go back-"

He was cut off by Firinne's short yelp as she tripped down the first concrete step to the locker room halls.

Trying to think fast, and not realizing she was about to catch herself just in time on the metal railing, he dove to help her. Engulfing her in his arms, small beads of water trailing off of him.

Thankfully, Firinne realized what was going to happen before it did. She could have caught herself, and all would've been well, but he had to come, and try to save the day, she thought. If he landed like he should his head would hit against the concrete floor hard enough to gain him a few scrapes. It all happened in a second, but she was on top of things.

Quite literally, she was on top of him. She let go of the sturdy hold of his head, and her breath she had been keeping in. Her first instinct was to wriggle away, and get off of him as fast as possible. But she couldn't move. Her legs felt like the concrete they had toppled on, and his hands hadn't moved from their solid hold on her hips.

She took in another quick breath, and untangled herself from him, letting the moment pass without another thought.

"Are you okay, Mako?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. Already on her feet, she offered a hand to help him stand. The only thing she didn't notice was the steady blush rising up in his cheeks or his trembling hands.

"...and that's why Nagisa was almost not on the team."

Makoto and Firinne had walked around the town. He had shown her various places him, and his friends liked to go, and again where the public pool was.

"That's terrible. Though I understand his thinking, and his parents. My parents are a bit like that. It's easier to overachieve, than to have them yelling at me all the time though. I suppose not really having anything to do in my free time besides study is a good thing." She said frailly.

"I forgot I have to do something!" He cried out after a long pause.

She followed him around the corner, and up a set of stairs built into the earth. He crouched on the ground, and called softly. Finally, after long minutes of a waiting a small, white cat slowly crept from its place of hiding. Firinne nearly gasped. It was so small.

He scooped it up in his hands, and pet it's head softly.

She sat beside him, slowly as to not frighten to thing.

"You can pet her, you know. If you want of course, I don't know how you feel about-"

"I love cats." She said without remorse, and reached a tentative hand out to the felines nose.

The small white thing sniffed, and sniffed, and finally rubbed her chin against Firinne's knuckles. Firinne set her other hand out, and the cat jumped into her hands. She pulled the small creature into her lap as he hands weren't stable enough to hold it.

Makoto chuckled, and gave its purring head one more final pat before rummaging through his brown bag. He pulled out a can of what Firinne assumed was cat food. When he opened it, and the raw smell drifted up to meet her nose, she confirmed it.

Gently, he balanced the can between their touching thighs. The cat started away at it immediately.

"You take care of her? Or him?"

"Yes, I have been for a little while." He said, admiring her smile as she observed the little one eating.

"Why doesn't she just live with you?"

He sighed. "My parents won't allow it. I've tried persuading them, but…"

"I'll take her." She said at once, finally looking back up at him. "My parents won't mind, especially when I tell them it was a stray."

"Thank you!" He reached out a hand to hug her, but decided against it at the last moment, and opted for a slightly forced back pat. She shrunk away from him, and stood, holding the cat, and letting the empty tin clatter to the ground.

"My pleasure, Mr. Tachibana, but I really must be leaving now." She looked down at her watch. "It's bound to be dark soon, and I'd really like to get out, and buy some things for this little kitty here before that happens." She began to walk away, but slowed to a stop, and turned back around just as Makoto was standing. "What should I name her?"

"She's yours now, it's up to you."

"No, I want you to name her."

"Maybe…" he thought for a long moment. "Mamoru or, _or_," he sounded too excited, it worried her, "Shields?"

"Both of those names mean protection." She said quietly.

"Ah, I didn't know that."

"Your name means sincerity, and so does mine, but that's beside the point. So which will it be Cat Boy?" She asked at last. The cat had settled into her arms, and was napping.

"Shields." He said sure of himself.

"Shields it is."

* * *

**I think this is a little longer than the others have been. Maybe not. I'm not sure it's like 3 in the morning I'm sorry. Also though I am watching Free! Eternal Summer right now, I only added in that little bit about Nagisa because that has been my favorite episode of this season so far I WILL MOST LIKELY NOT STICK WITH THE PLOT OF THIS SEASON. In the next chapter we'll see some things from the past come up, a few things will be revealed, etc. idek I'm really tired rn man I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.**


	6. Fears

"Hey, Rei-chan!" Firinne called down the hall. She had been unusually excitable, and happy today for no particular reason. Finally she caught up with the tall boy, nudged him.

"I nearly thought you were Nagisa, McAvoy-senpai."

Pulled the strap of her bag higher up on her shoulder.

"You can just call me by my given name if you like. Makoto does."

"You're closer with Makoto-senpai than you are with me." It came out far ruder than he had intended. "Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"You're fine, Rei. For the amount of accidental rude things I've said to people in the past, Mako, Nagisa, and probably you in the short amount of time I've been here. I get it, you're fine. Though if you really don't want to call me Firinne you can always just call me Effy-senpai."

He slowed his pace a bit so she could keep up.

"Not to sound rude, but what exactly did you need from me?"

"I'm not really sure to be honest, I think I want to get to know you better. I've spent enough time with you, and the rest of the swim team, and I'm barely friends with any of you. While waiting for the four of you to get ready to leave Gou and I had a very nice conversation, it was short but pleasant, and I found out a lot about her, and even the swim team. Even as Makoto was showing me around Iwatobi the other night I found out things about all of you, it was all nice, and good so don't worry, but I figured-"

"So Makoto-senpai showed you around." He said plainly. His eyesight may be bad, but he wasn't blind.

"Yes, now...how're your grades? What's your favorite style of swimming? I know that you do Butterfly, but do you like any other?"

"My grades are fine, I'm nearly first in my class…"

"Good...good."

"I believe that freestyle is quite beautiful, though I prefer to swim butterfly." He said resolutely. "Do you like to swim?" He asked after a forced pause.

"Well," she thought aloud, "I can swim, and I can swim well enough. Not like any of the four of you, but I can still swim. I just don't really like to. The water isn't that inviting." Her light face darkened for only a moment, but she quickly fixed it.

"The water is very inviting if you let it in." He said philosophically.

"Yeah, well I'm not too big on chemicals, and my skins really sensitive so I can swim in chlorinated pools for more than an hour at the most. I'm okay with swimming in rivers though. I've swam in a river in the United States before, and it was very nice. But lakes, and ponds kind of...for a lack of better words they gross me out. I don't know what it is." She chuckled. "How did you end up joining the swim team again? You're not in any of the pictures of the other boys when they were younger."

"Nagisa nagged me." He seemed to stop for a moment, but continued walking. "What about the ocean?" He asked at last. "The ocean is clean, and nice. The beaches are usually very beautiful, and-"

"No." She said coldly. "I mean, I don't really have time right now between studying for my own test, taking care of a cat now, and tutoring Mako." Her smile was tight, and obviously fake, but he didn't say a word.

* * *

"Firinne!"

She was shook from her daze by only a voice, but jumped at the sound of it anyway. Every single time, every single day; it didn't matter how many times she waited for the giant oaf on the bench, she would jump at hearing his soft voice every single time.

_Maybe I'm worried he's someone else. Or maybe I'm not used to people using my name. _

She pondered this as she turned from him, and walked ahead of the group.

After Rei had informed Nagisa of what they would be studying this night, he jogged up to Makoto, and pulled him back. He whispered something that Firinne couldn't understand without lagging back to hear them, and she didn't care to at that point.

The night before she had scolded herself when she had returned home. She scolded herself for blushing around Makoto, and letting him show her around the town. If this kept up she might start to have feelings for him, and that wasn't okay.

He was just flirting. That was just his natural state. He flirted with everyone. If she paid attention enough it seemed as though he was flirting with Haru. Some people were just like that, and she just needed to move on. She made a quiet vow to never let it pass her mind again.

"Effy-senpai!" Nagisa skipped up to meet her, "Would you like to come with us to the beach?" He asked excitedly, not giving her time to respond, he continued. "We're practicing in the ocean, and staying in tents on the beach. It'll only be for two days this weekend. We can drive you there! Just be sure to bring some money for food, or whatever else you want. Oh, and bring a bathing suit of course! Also-"

"Nagisa," Makoto said softly from the back, "Give her time to think about it."

"Ah! Of course! But we hope you can come It'll be in about three weeks."

"Thank you," she said quietly. Her voice was only little more than a whisper. "I'll have to ask my parents."

_I'm not going to some beach to spend some time with some ridiculous, sweaty idiots._

The ride home she sat in silence staring out the window, and rubbing her right shoulder. Even though it didn't hurt, and hadn't for a long time the echo of the scar seemed to drag her away with the memory of the beach. She couldn't go to a beach again, let alone wear a swimsuit.

Then everyone would see, and then they would ask questions. She would panic, and probably hide in a bathroom, or someplace else of privacy. Anywhere really to stop the memory from fully resurfacing, and the flashback to take her over. Then they would really think she was crazy. They would never accept her.

"Firinne," she glanced over a Makoto, "Is your shoulder alright?" He asked, leaning over Haru to see her.

"Yeah, it's fine. I just twisted it a little out of place earlier." The lie rolled off her tongue with ease. She had used it hundreds of times whenever the phantom pain flared up again.

* * *

The sun hadn't begun to set when they finished as it usually did. She glanced out his window.

"I lied earlier." She said without thinking.

"**I don't have to speak in English now**?" He asked tiredly, and slowly. She still upheld that rule to a certain degree.

"Not about that, I lied when you asked about my shoulder on the train. I didn't do-"

"Are you actually hurt?!"

"N-no, no that's not it at all. I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something, and it reminded me of a time when I got hurt. I just wanted to apologize for lying."

He sighed with reassurance, and relief.

"If that's all. I'm glad you're not hurt. What happened?"

"Ah, well that's not too important right now." She answered with a forced smile, though she was relieved he wasn't upset. "And, another thing. I know that Nagisa was excited about inviting me to the ocean, but I'd rather not go."

"Why not? Did someone do some…"

"No, no! Nothing like that I'm just...I really don't like the ocean. I got in a sort of accident there, and my grandfather- well step-grandfather, but that doesn't matter- died at sea. I don't exactly have the best relationship with the water. I know I sound stupid; especially complaining about this to you of all people."

"Why would you sound stupid to me?" He asked seriously, his brow nearly furrowed. It reminded her of when he was swimming, and how focused he looked. Sometimes, if something was particularly hard in their lesson, he would come close to looking the way he did in the water, but never quite.

"Because, well, you're a swimmer. You must love the water!" She said excitedly, turning away from him, and leaning her back against the side of his bed as he pulled his feet up to sit with them crossed atop the covers.

She didn't see his face become dark, and somber. If she did she may have shivered with a twinge of fright.

"I wouldn't say that's true," he said with a still chuckle. Her twiddling hands tensed with the darkness of his voice for only a moment. "I was afraid of going into the pool for the longest time, and I...I still have some troubles with oceans. This old man, he became something like a grandfather to me. He was a fisherman, and ended up dying at sea in a huge storm. I was always scared the water might swallow me up whole after that. I think I'm a little less afraid after some things that happened last year."

She was silent, and dumbfounded. No words could escape her mouth right now; she didn't know what to say.

"How old were you when the fisherman died?" She asked tediously, her voice sounded as though it were on rocks.

"About ten I believe."

"What was the name of the boat? Do you know?"

He shifted in his seat, until decided to slide down to the floor, and sit beside her.

"I believe it was called the _Hoshiko_." He said after a long pause. His eyes were glued to her, but she didn't move.

"That was the same boat my step-grandfather was on. My grandmother moved to Japan because my parents supported her when they lived in Scotland. She didn't want to live in a big city like Tokyo so she found this town, and decided to live in Iwatobi. That's the reason we live here, of all places. My parents knew it was a nice town, and so it was simple."

He smiled softly, and rubbed a bit of sleep out of his eyes, stretching.

"Maybe you should come to the ocean. It may help you get over some of your fears. You don't have to swim, or come near the water if you don't want to. I think it would be good for you though."

"Maybe," she echoed.

"Oh!" He suddenly remembered something, leaving her barely any time to think it over, or for pause. "There's a festival tomorrow night, you should come. The rest of the team is going, and you should see the fireworks display."

"Maybe," she repeated. She glanced out the window again. The sun was turning orange, and the sky a deep blue. "I'm going home now." Her feet stood before she realized she was moving. "I have a lot of homework to finish up. Thank you, and goodbye, Mako!"

* * *

**A bit shorter I believe. Maybe it's not, I'm not too sure. Either way another quick update because I won't have time for the following weekend. (spending time with a friend away from my laptop tomorrow, and the next day is piano lessons). I thought it was a cute, little tie in Firinne's grandmother marrying the fisherman who looked out for Makoto when she moved to Japan. Alright I'm done, please review if you liked it. Give me critiques about what you didn't like!**


	7. Festival

Firinne woke early the morning of the festival. She lay in bed for about an hour contemplating what the rest of the day would be like. She could barely remember what Makoto said the festival was focused around. Maybe it was Mackeral? Or squid? She couldn't remember which now.

The night before she had told her mother about it while Shields, the small cat, curled up next to the finicky woman. Surprisingly, her mother had taken to the cat quite quickly. Even though she'd rather be spending time on her phone, she spared just enough for her daughter, and the cat.

Rolling out of bed, and dragging her glasses off of the desk, she grabbed a notepad, and pen off of her night stand. She remembered she was running low on contacts, and had thrown away her second to last pair the night before. Dragging her feet she plopped down at the seat at her desk, and flipped open her laptop. Clicking as few buttons as possible, she turned on a playlist of Western music, and The Neighbourhood began to quietly play in the background.

"Where are you?" She rubbed the last bit of sleep from her eyes, and pulled open the vanity drawer. The blue box felt unnaturally light. Even if there was only one pair left it shouldn't be…

They were gone. She had unwittingly used up her last pair, and hadn't ordered more. Sighing, and pouting, she picked up her phone. The desk didn't pick up, so she left a message.

"This sucks," she grumbled, pulling off her glasses, and pulling her makeup from the drawer.

* * *

"Are you leaving now?" Her mother caught her off-guard as her hand paused on the door handle.

"I was planning on it, yes." She drew back.

"Aren't you going to wear your yukata at least? This is a festival, and he did say that…"

"I know, I know, but I doubt that too many other people are going to be wearing them, and I'll stand out because…." she motioned to her face, and went for the door again. Her mother caught her wrist.

"Please don't let something like that stop you. It's a beautiful piece of clothing, and I know you love it. Or at least you did last time. Besides, you have time, you can get it on, and still meet them on time!"

She chewed on her lip for a moment, before letting in.

Her mother rushed her upstairs with the consent, and dashed to her closet to pull it out.

Firinne admitted that she did love the thing. It was gorgeous. She had only worn it once, and only for a few simple hours. For her last few days in Toyko her friends had brought her to a festival, and had made her buy one to wear with them. She cringed at the thought of the night, and all the little mistakes she had made.

It seemed like so long ago now. Back then she had been preoccupied with a boy. It was silly, and she knew it, but she went with it. Under the cover of night, and the brightness of a festival she had kissed the boy, and more; only for him to laugh in her face moments later.

She shuddered with the thought of what she had done to herself that night. All the hurtful words, and scars she had inflicted that night. He had been disgusted with her body, and the scars before that night, and she realized she had lost hope after. But this, Iwatobi, Makoto, Rin, Rei even, and the rest of the swim club was making things better. Letting the tension from her body as her mother tied the deep royal blue obi, she gave a soft smile.

She looked down at the soft lavender fabric, dotted with a gray Botan pattern.

The older woman enveloped her in a hug. She froze for a moment, then gently hugged her back.

"I love you, Mom." It had been a while since she had said those words. They felt so comfortable on her tongue, she didn't want the moment to pass, but she pulled away. The coldness, and lack of reassurance she felt was almost immediate, but she couldn't stop now.

With a quick wave, she grabbed her old, small purse, and dashed down the stairs, and to the door.

* * *

"She's late." Haru said at last when Rei arrived in a rush.

"You mean Effy-chan?" Nagisa leaned back straightening out his own, pale yukata while Rei did the same with his dark one.

Haru gave a rough nod, and returned to staring out to the water.

Makoto gave a soft chuckle. "She told me she would be late, but she should be here any moment."

"How did she do that?" Nagisa asked with an edge of suspicion.

"She sent me a message. She's awfully excited to see Rin" He answered nonchalantly with a hint of sadness, not giving into what the younger was trying to get at.

"Do you-?"

"There she is." Haru interrupted, standing with an edge. He just wanted to get to the festival. Mako followed him, putting a hand up to shield his face from the sun to see her jogging in the distance. In moments she came sprinting up to them, and stopped suddenly before she could crash into Mako. Huffing, she placed her hands on her knees, and took a few deep breaths.

She pushed her bright red glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. The were thicker, plastic, large rectangles.

Makoto took a step back.

"You wear glasses." He said simply, admiring her.

"Yeah," she took another breath as the train pulled in, "Haven't we been over this?" He shook his head quickly. "Well, I just ran out of contacts. I would've liked to wear them, but...ah, what can you do?" She breathed hopping onto the train, and sitting in the nearest seat. Instinctively, Makoto sat across from her.

As Haru, Nagisa, and Rei dived on the train, Nagisa pulled them away to the seat right behind the two.

She wrung her hands, as she glanced behind her. At least Nagisa, and Rei were wearing yukatas as well.

"You should sit with your friends." She said quietly at last. "I don't mean to sound rude, I'm sorry! It's just you usually do whenever we ride the train, and I figured…" she trailed off, continuing to wring her hands till they were nearly red.

"Firinne," he leaned forward the slightest bit, and rested his hands on her wrists. She resisted the urge to pull back, and tensed up instead. Finally she met his eyes; he looked genuinely concerned. "Don't worry so much. I'll be fine not sitting with them, and they'll live too. You always sit alone, and I-we're friends. I mean, you tutor me almost every day, and I still don't know that much about you."

She snickered, and gently pulled away. "Have you forgotten all about our little heart to heart the other night?"

"Ah! Of course no-"

"I'm kidding, Mako. I know you haven't you're too kind. But fine, I feel as though you deserve to know that...well maybe not that you deserve to know, but I'd like to tell yo-"

"Oi, Makoto," Haru popped out from behind the seat with a blank look on his face.

"Eh, yes, Haru-cha-"

"Don't call me that." He said sternly.

Makoto sighed with gentle defeat. "What is it?"

Firinne twisted her head to look at him, as they were basically back to back.

Nagisa pulled him back, and whispered something loudly, and unintelligible.

"Haru…?" Makoto leaned neatly across the seat.

Haru leaned back out, and shook his head. "Later." He said begrudgingly before being pulled back behind the seat.

"Ah," Firinne seemed to pull back into herself, "I'll tell you later."

As she stared out the window, keeping up with small conversation with Makoto, and occasionally the trouble maker sitting behind her, she contemplated her feelings.

_Obviously Makoto doesn't like me in a romantic way, which is good. And I don't...I don't like anyone anymore. When I saw Rin again I thought maybe we could just pick up at something a little more personal, but now I see. And I'm okay with that. Rin was a sort of broken fantasy, and I know now that that's all blown over. I feel lighter. This is nice._

"Firinne. Firinne!"

"Ah," she looked away from the window, "Sorry what was that?"

Makoto smiled slowly, "The next stop is the one we'll be getting off at." He paused for a moment. "Are you excited to see Rin?"

She thought for a moment, and shrugged. "I've seen him a lot lately, it won't make too much of a difference. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like seeing him, especially now that he's happier, but it wouldn't matter either way to me." She cringed at how mish-mashed the words sounded. The sentence had been so defensive, yet she still felt peace, and her face showed it.

Makoto didn't say anything.

"'Good people are like candles; they burn themselves up to give others light.' It's a Turkish Proverb, and I think you should listen to it, Makoto." She said solidly, staring him straight in the eyes.

"What do you-?"

"I see you be so kind to so many people, and you look for practically nothing in return. Most people don't pay attention well enough to remember every little kindness you give to them, and they don't return it sometimes. That doesn't make them a bad person, and honestly as people, as humans we don't really deserve anything from anyone else in my opinion.

"You're very kind to me, all the time. I just...I have problems with that because I don't feel like I can do anything for you. And tutoring you doesn't count. It's not something I did out of the kindness out of my heart. I did it for selfish reason. I did it so you, and your friends wouldn't hate me. It sounds so silly now; all of you are all so nice. Either way, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't put all of your effort into me. I don't want you to burn out, alright? Nobody is worth that."

He was speechless. The train slowed to a stop. He wanted to tell her that she was wrong; that he wouldn't burn out. He wanted to tell her that everyone was worth it, but he stopped himself. He wanted to say that she had given him something, a lot of something!

But she was right. She had just barely opened up for him. And deep down he knew that no one was worth destroying yourself, and your happiness over. Maybe the way she had worded it had put him off-guard, but the more he thought about her poetic words the more he agreed with them, and the more he realized what she had really been saying.

It wasn't like the countless other people who had been upset with him for being 'too nice', or told him that the world was a cruel place, and his happiness, and gentleness would be punched out in seconds. She had warned him not to exert too much of himself. He would get hurt eventually, and that was true. He knew it was, he had felt a glimpse of it whenever Haru, and Rin spent time with one another.

* * *

"OKAY!" Nagisa grabbed onto Rei's elbow. "We're going to the games!"

"Nagisa, that's a waste of-"

He didn't get the words out before they were gone down through a pool of people rushing off the opposite side.

The only ones left were Firinne, Makoto, Gou, and Chigusa, Gou's friend. Rei, and Nagisa had just run off; Rin, and Haru had wandered off together almost as soon as they had seen each other, leaving the others to stay.

"Hana-chan, and I are going to try to find the fried squid again!" She said almost as soon as the blonds head was out of sight. In moments the two of them were gone among the small crowd.

Firinne pushed back a kinky piece of red hair, and tapped Makoto's shoulder. Standing up on her tiptoes to reach. "What do you want to do?" She waited for a response.

"Me?" He looked a little dazed.

"We're the only two left, and I don't know where anything is."

"Oh, right." He looked out at the setting sun. "We could wander around until you see something you want to do, or eat."

"That sounds good." She beamed from ear to ear, and walked a little ahead of him.

* * *

Three games, and one strange festival food later she wandered out to the grassy hill. He followed, not paying too much attention. In one hand she played played with two little, keychain plushies. One was a killer whale, which had looked as though it was smiling, and the other was a fox as bright red as her hair.

She plopped onto the ground, pulling him down with her. With a small shriek, he fell down to the ground. The sun had set, and the sky was clear. The stars, and the moon were bright enough they could've seen each other in the darkness without the festival lights. She fell onto her back to look up at the sky.

Makoto pushed himself beside her, and propped himself up on his elbows.

"Do you want one of these?" She asked, still staring up at the stars.

"I couldn't…"

"You helped me win them. Besides, it's something for both of us, so we don't forget these. I'm into sappy momentos like that."

"Ah, I learn more about you every day, Effy-chan." He imitated Nagisa, and she turned toward him pouting.

"Don't call me that," she poked him in the ribs, and grazed her hand up. He was on his back, yelling out for her to stop, and that it tickled. "...Dork." She muttered, folding her arms under her head. He did the same, and stared up at the sky with her. "Hey, did Nanase ever tell you what he wanted to?"

"No," he sighed, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes, "I've been with you most of the time."

"Oh, yeah! I was telling you something on the train, wasn't I?" She popped off the ground, and sat straight up.

He tried not to look too excited as he nodded, and sat up with her, crossing his legs, and leaning forward.

"Yeah, it was about the thing at the beach that happened. You see, it's a little scary to think about, but when it's in the past, and I'm fine now anyway." She laughed nervously, yet lightly. "There was a huge storm, and we were swimming, and just as I got out of the water to get up to dry land to be safe I was struck by lightning."

Makoto's mouth dropped open. "But you're-I didn't-are you…?"

"I'm fine. I was in the hospital for a little while, but it was all a few years ago. I have scars from it, but it's not a big deal. You can see if you want." She offered, already slipping the sleeve of her yukata down.

He shook his head violently almost.

"What? I have a tank top on underneath! Unless you really don't want too…"

"No, no, I was just worried you were...never mind."

She slipped the sleeve down to reveal a pale, slightly freckled shoulder marked with a jagged, swirling design. Scooting on the grass, she moved so that she was sitting right in front of him, crossing her legs, and holding her sleeve.

"I have a ton of permanent bruising on my back, too, but you don't need to see that." She said quietly, feeling quite vulnerable.

"May I touch your shoulder?" He asked quietly. His voice was raspy, and low. She could feel herself start to shake. Showing people things like this was hard for her, but she knew she needed to try.

"Y-yes, you may."

She tensed herself, waiting for him to grab her shoulder, or trace her scar, but he did nothing like that.

His fingers were gentle. They traced down her neck, and across her shoulder, down to her half-exposed shoulder blade. His thumb circled around as his hand grazed across her skin. Firinne was happy to be facing away from him so he couldn't see her red face.

"Fir-"

It took her a moment to realize he had cut himself off from saying her full name. She had thought he was using English, and had said **fear**.

She pulled up her sleeve, noticing he had stopped. She looked back to see his unamused, blushing face looking straight down the hill.

"Mako-"

She looked, and saw what he saw.

The rest of the team, plus Rin were staring up at them, unashamed.

The color of her glasses started to rise up in her cheeks. She was shaking, and laughing, and crying from it all.

"Are you alright?!" He asked, leaning forward. She wiped a tear away from her cheek, and smiled brightly.

"I'm just happy, and I don't know why." She giggled, and fell onto her back, laughing even harder, and aloud. She usually chuckled forcefully, and snickered, but never did anything like this escape her lips before in front of Makoto.

He hadn't heard a noise as wonderful as her laugh his whole life.

* * *

**Welp I'm back earlier than expected whoops. Anyway, that was a wild ride. Pretty romantic right? But like Firinne doesn't like anyone right now, and likes it like that so I mean? So more secrets are revealed, and stuff, and it's all cute, and the next chapter will be pretty cute too. (hopefully). But then, I'm sorry to say it may get a little dramatic/serious. Please review with any comment, error you see, or critique you have! :)**


	8. Boo!

"Why don't you come up to the roof to eat with us?"

Firinne glanced up from her book to Makoto.

"You always eat alone, and I-we were wondering if you…?"

"No, thank you though. I appreciate it, but sometimes I prefer to be alone."

"Oh, okay." And he walked off after Haru.

It wasn't just that. She had had the question on the tip of her tongue since they had gotten on the train to get to school. A little while ago she had received six tickets to a haunted house nearby for her birthday, and she had been meaning to ask if any of them wanted to go. The words just wouldn't come out though. She couldn't figure out why she was so nervous about it.

Shrugging it off, and deciding to do it later, she returned to her book, and silently kept reading. There were only a few others in the room, and those that were left were all in deep conversation with one or two other people. As she picked at her food, and continued reading, she chuckled to herself. Maybe they would find her birthday funny; this year it was Friday the 13th of October.

"Did Effy-chan seem a bit strange today?" Nagisa leaned up to Makoto, and glanced between him, and Haru.

Firinne, only a few paces in front of them, turned on her heel. She opened her mouth before either of the boys had a chance to speak.

"Would any of you like to come to a Haunted House with me?" She yelped out at last. She had put it off for long enough. They had even invited her to come up to the pool, and sit up there, instead of the bench. she had gladly accepted, but hadn't said a word about the Haunted House.

"What?" Nagisa nearly deadpanned.

"No, eh, I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier. It's my birthday on Friday, and since it's nearly Halloween, I don't know I just got this free tickets to some Haunted House. I know it's a little late to be asking, but I just really needed to know if any of you would even be interested."

Gou stepped up to the front.

"I'll try to see if I can go, Firinne-senpai!" She smiled brightly, and eased the older girls nerves.

"Rei, and I will go!" Nagisa grabbed onto Rei's arm, and thrusted it up in the air. Thankfully Nagisa noticed the sick look on Makoto's face before Firinne did, and elbowed him in the side. With a small _oof!_ he gripped onto the small fox in his hand, and nodded quickly. "And Haru-chan!"

"And me," Makoto said shyly, turning pink, and rubbing at the back of his neck.

She lit up, and smiled brightly.

"Thank you!"

* * *

"I don't mean to sound rude," Makoto started. Firinne glanced up at him from her spot on his floor. They were basically done for the studying, and had moved on to simple conversation, no longer speaking in English. "But aren't you a little scared of the dark? A Haunted House doesn't seem…"

"Doesn't seem like a good idea?" She finished for him. He gave a slight nod. "Yeah, but it's different. I love Halloween, it's my favorite holiday. It's beautiful this time of year in America, and Canada." She said dreamily. "Anyway, Haunted Houses are alright because I know I'm safe, and fine. I mean, I'll still get scared, and nervous, but not in the same way. It's not like walking down some dark street or alley way, or even being in my own room."

His head was tilted, but he nodded. His fingers curled around the little fox on the bed, the one she had given him at the festival. He brought it with him almost everywhere now. She kept the killer whale hooked onto her bag.

"I see now. Sorry I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing something that you really didn't want to." He chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, no, it's perfect. I heard this one is really scary, and...what's the matter?" She stopped to notice his reaction. He looked strikingly pale, and a little wide-eyed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, of course! I just...I just haven't been to a Haunted House ever, and I think I might be a little nervous to…"

"I mean, you don't have to come if you really don't want to." She said half-heartedly.

"No," he said, sure of himself now, "It'll be fun. It's all fake anyway!" He chuckled out. He knew he would have to repeat that to himself in three days.

* * *

"Firinne-senpai! Senpai!" Gou jogged down the hallway to the red head. Firinne glanced at her, nearly having to look up.

"Yes?"

The younger girl bowed her head. "I'm sorry I said yes, well I'm not because it sounded so fun, and I really wanted to go, but I can't. To the Haunted House I mean. I realized last night that I had plans with Hana-chan. It's a sort of annual thing we do, and I know it's terrib-"

"That's fine, Gou. I'm not upset." Her easy smile seemed to put the girl at ease.

"Ah! And I tried to get Onii-chan to go, but since he's the captain of the Samezuka, he doesn't have time. He said he would love to as well, but-"

"Really, Gou, it's fine. I'm just glad you told me today, and not tomorrow."

Gou took a sigh of relief. "Good, and I'm sorry." She gave a cute grin, and jogged away again to her first class.

Firinne shrugged, and trudged into her own room. She slumped past Makoto, and plopped into her seat. Her head hit the desk with a small _thud!_ as she rested her eyes, and squeezed her fists. Slowly, her hands moved to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Firinne-chan, wake up." A sing-songy voice whispered over the dull roar of the classroom.

"I'm too tired for endearing nicknames, Mako-chan." Her playful grin held a slight grimace to it, but he smiled anyway.

"I don't mean to sound like I want to get out of my own work, but maybe we shouldn't work as late tonight. You need to get your own work done, and get to sleep before two in the morning."

Yawning, she lazily poked him. "Nope, I see right through your schemes, Tachibana. It's all a big ploy!" Giggling, and rubbing at her numb temples, she glanced up at him. "I know, you're right. Besides, your grades have been really good lately, and you're doing so well. We can calm down with the studying. Besides, I think whatever the problem was with you understanding English is pretty much gone. You don't even need my help!" She joked, letting her eyes rest a little more.

He chuckled a bit nervously. "Maybe not, but I'll stick with you just to make sure."

* * *

That night, when the sun began setting, Makoto didn't keep her with nearly pointless conversation, and she didn't try to linger. She went home, feeling excited for the next day. Flouncing into her house, she rushed back to the kitchen. She hoped to see her mother, or father making something to eat, but no one was there. It didn't even smell like food had been cooked, and there were no dishes in the sink, or put away in the dishwasher.

Her posture slumped a little with her own mood, as she scuffed over to the fridge. They had at least left a message on a little scrap of paper.

_Don't worry if we aren't here when you get home. We expect today to be a long work day, probably won't be home till very late. Just fix yourself something, feed the cat, do your homework, and go to bed. _

_Love, Dad and Mom_

After grabbing some cold, homemade pizza out of the fridge, she sat at the table, and pulled out her work. There wasn't too much, but she was overrun; trying to balance out the task of tutoring Makoto, while keeping up with her studying, and work. Thankfully, now that they were in the roll of things, she usually had some time to do her homework between the time that classes ended, and when swim practice ended.

A soft body silently rubbed against her ankles. A small _mew_ and the soft rumble of a purr came with it as she scratched at the cat's head.

She turned her attention away from the feline to continue her work for about forty minutes more. The cat mewed up at her, and rubbed at her ankles the entire time. Forcing her to keep scratching it's pretty head while continuing to scrawl out her answers. Finally, the cat hopped up onto the table, and pushed her hand away from the paper.

"C'mere, Shields," she scooped up the cat into her arms. It nuzzled it's head into her chest, and batted a hand on her neck, reaching for her face. With a toothy yawn, it stretched out, and curled up again in her arms in a tight ball. "At least I've still got you."

"_Meow!_"

She giggled at her mewing, and set her on the ground again.

"I'll get you some food now."

Standing, and scooping the dishes from the ground, she felt something vibrate in her jacket pocket. First she cleaned out the dishes, and refilled them before reaching into her jacket. Another buzz came, and she hurried to unlock her phone.

_Makoto T. : How is Shields? I'm sorry if I'm interrupting you during dinner, or while you're studying, or doing your work._

Firinne smiled duly, and opened the camera in her phone. Shields was eating away, but looked up for a moment as her phone camera took a quick picture. She sent it with a small tag.

_Firinne M. : Good, and cute as heck. Don't worry, I'm pr much done with my work anyway._

She set the phone on the table, and sat again. Lazily, she reached out for her pencil, and dragged it across the dark wood to the paper. It didn't make a difference, the graphite hadn't made a mark anyhow. She scribbled out the last three answers to

the math work, and closed her eyes.

She was proud of herself. She had finished quickly, and her work had been good. She would have to double-check the other work, but the math was done, and that's all that mattered.

_Bzzz! Bzzz!_

_Makoto T. : That's good! I knew she would like it with you :)_

* * *

The next morning on the train to school Firinne was much more excitable. She was happy that, for in a long time, she would get the chance to spend time with a group of people she felt actually accepted her. It was a wonderfully curious feeling.

"Ohayou, Firinne!" A drowsy, sing-songy voice called from behind her on the train. "Come sit with us this morning." He said gruffly.

"Ohayou, Makoto, I've told you before I'm not going to just break up-"

"Haru isn't here this morning. Sit with us, please." He quietly begged.

Pursing her lips, she nodded, and walked with him.

Nagisa, and Rei were having a small, and for once, calm discussion. Nagisa didn't seem to pleased by it, but he nodded, and gave Rei small, hopeless smiles every now, and then.

"Ah! Ohayou, Effy-chan!"

"Ohayou, Nagisa," she sighed.

He ignored her, and went on talking to Rei in a hushed tone. Firinne kept her eyes glued to the window, pressing herself as close to it as possible. Finally Nagisa, and Rei looked up from one another.

"If Nagisa can get his marks up we won't have to study tonight, but if the test he's going to get back today isn't above a 'B' then I'm sorry to say that we'll have to skip out on the Haunted House."

"Oh, that's okay," she smiled slowly.

"I'm sorry, McAvoy-senpai. It looks like it's just you, and Makoto."

She tipped her head, confused for a moment. "Oh, right, Nanase is sick. That's a shame. Not that I don't like spending time with you Makoto! But I just meant...I mean I would've liked to do something for all of you for once."

Nagisa, and Rei rolled their eyes at the nervous pair sitting across from them.

* * *

"Alright, so we'll go back home. I'm changing out of my uniform, and I mean...you probably should too. I mean you look fine like that, but...yeah." She repeated what she had texted Makoto the night before as the train speed off away from the school. "We'll have about an hour to do that, and then get back to the train station, and then we'll take a train to the town the house is in. That shouldn't take too long. I mean, maybe forty minutes or so, and then we can either eat when we get there, or get in early, and eat after."

He seemed in a kind of distant daze. When he didn't respond after a moment, she puffed a little sigh.

"Mako, what do you want to do?" She whined.

"Today is your birthday, isn't it? Why don't you decide?" He said kindly, and softly.

She pursed her lips, and chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment.

"Fine, we can eat after. You did tell your parents you would be home late?"

"Yes, of course, did you?"

"My parents aren't home tonight, they're having some big, important business meeting again, and won't be home until it's nearly dinner time tomorrow."

When she caught Nagisa raising an eyebrow, and giving her a small wink, she opened her mouth to deny what the words seemed to insinuate. Then, she shut it again. It would only make matters more embarrassing, the blond would turn it around on her if she was the one to say anything. Instead, she crossed her arms, and turned away from him.

* * *

Firinne began jogging home as soon as she hopped off the train, and said quick goodbyes to everyone. She dashed into her house, picking up Shields on the way in, and giving him a scratch on the head. She carried him up the stairs with her to her room, and plopped him on her bed. He found a soft blanket at the foot of the bed, curled up, and began licking at his small, white paws.

She smiled at him for a moment before tearing off her clothes, and rummaging through her dresser drawers.

"I didn't realize I had this many black shirts," she muttered to herself in English now. Shields made a small _purrrp!_ noise in acknowledgement. "It's not my fault. Besides, the shirt I'm looking for only came in...is right here!" She exclaimed, pulling it up. "No, it is-yes, yes it is! I'm going mad, kitty." She lolled her head back to look at him with a smirk on her face as she pulled the shirt over her blush bra.

Bending over, she pushed the clothes that had fallen on the floor back into the drawer. She pulled open the other drawer, and tore out a pair of scuffed, high-waisted shorts, and pair of thick opaque tights. Plopping onto the bed with the cat, nearly disturbing him, she tugged on her thick socks, and stretched back.

Before doing her makeup she inspected the shirt. It was only a couple of years old, but it had seen better days. There were a few bleach stains here, and there around the Rabbit, and the letters spelling out '_FRANK'_, but they didn't really matter.

She yawned, and swiped on mascara. She rummaged around for her strawberry lip balm after she had brushed on a pretty silver color over her lids.

Finally, she rushed down the stairs, making sure to stop in the kitchen to throw a good amount of food, and a cup of water into the cats dishes. She jogged to the door, and pulled on her boots. Skipping as she took two more steps, she twisted the knob with a bit of a flourish as it was twisted from the outside. The door flew open, and she tripped out, nearly plowing into the person standing outside.

"Mako, don't do that!" She whined, feigning fright. "You could've killed me!"

"I don't think a little scare would do that. If that's the case you shouldn't have picked such a place to go to on your birthday. Speaking of which," he said rather forced, and tight. He didn't seem annoyed with it, or upset, but rather a bit embarrassed. He rummaged around in his bag for a moment, before pulling something out.

She felt her chest tighten at the prospect of a gift.

"Makoto, you didn't have to…"

"I know." He said firmly. "You are my friend," he pulled out a gift-wrapped rectangle, "And I will treat you as such." The wrapping paper was a delicate rose color, with little pin stripes of gold, silver, and white. She thought it was too pretty to tear.

Firinne felt tears nearly well up in her eyes, but cleared her throat a little too dramatically, and stopped them before they came.

"I...ah, uh...thank you, Mako."

"Ah, Firinne, what's on your shirt?" He grimaced.

His fingers twitched the slightest bit as they grazed hers as he handed her the package. He watched with gentle green eyes, as her delicate fingers pulled at the tape, making sure not to rip anything, he realized. He noticed her hands shaking as she finally took the paper off, and carefully folded it, and placed it in her bag.

"Oh, it's Frank the Bunny. It's from a movie that came out a while ago. I...I've never read this before." She said at last. She stared down at the beautiful cover. Trying to remember why. "_The Old Man and the Sea_," she read, "I've probably been meaning to, but never gotten around to it." Her voice shook a little, and he could her the echo of a crack.

Before he could reply or notice the tears threatening to spill over, she engulfed him in a hug.

"Ah! Fir-chan!" He yelped out.

"I'm...I'm sorry," she pulled back quickly, and Makoto quickly felt himself become a bit cold. "I just haven't had a...a, and it sounds rude, but a thoughtful gift such as this in a while. My parents just give me money, and buy me pens nowadays. I mean, I ask for the pens! It's not some weird side-gift that they do, and I mean they are amazing, lovely pens. But...but," she trailed off again, noticing an odd look on his face. "Nevermind, let's get going."

* * *

Makoto finally loosened his grip on Firinne's shoulders as they walked out. He had held her death-grip on her collar since they had walked in. She laughed to herself each time another actor would pop out at him, and frighten him. Every so often he would hold her so close she could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

When they stepped out into the moonlight she actually got to look at him. It had been nearly pitch black in there, and all she could do was hope that it was him that was touching her, and not some stranger.

"Mako-chan," she drew out, "You could've said you don't like scary things. I could've gone by myself." She said noticing his pale face, and still heaving chest. "Are you sure you're okay?" Her hand lifted a little, and it looked as though she was going to reach out to him, but drew back again.

He swallowed, nodding; as they began walking. "It's fine, it was all fake anyway. I'm fine."

She gave him a soft side-hug while they walked.

"You're a trooper, Mako-chan." Her arm fell away, and he felt cold again, but it was her was shivering. Now that they were out of the house, she realized how cold it was. Her flimsy, sleeveless tank wasn't helping her any. "But now we have to find a place to eat," she pulled her phone from her bag, and sorted around the rest of the things in it, "And….I don't have my money." She deadpanned. Then she gave a long heaving sigh of guilt. "I left it at home on my dresser drawer."

"Firinne, I'm sure I have enough to…"

"No, no, I appreciate it, but you already gave me a gift. And books aren't cheap. We can just go back, and you can eat at my house if you like." As she turned down the street leading to the train station, he slowed to a stop. She took three more steps before she realized he had stopped. "Mako…" she was caught off guard by the serious look in his eyes.

"Maybe you're the one who's the candle." He said at last.

"I don't think I'm that…" she stopped, and rubbed at her temples for a moment. A hand dragged her face, and she rubbed away at her eyes. "I'm tired, we should keep going." She said hoarsely, and quietly. Her lip quivered as she turned away from him.

The next few minutes they walked in silence, and she didn't let him see her face until they arrived at the train station. With a twirl, she spun around to face him as they waited.

"Y'know, I'm surprised you don't have a girlfriend with how nice you always are, Mako-chan!" She smiled brightly, almost forced.

He observed how tense she was, but said nothing as he blushed. "Eh...I...well, thank you. I've never...never actually had…"

"That's okay, you know. You don't have to seem so embarrassed by it. I mean, unless you're not straight."

He felt taken aback by her bluntness.

"I mean, I'm going to be honest, the first time I saw you, and Nanase-san, I thought you kind of had a thing for him." She teased endearingly. His face turned as red as her hair.

"Eh! I...no, no I..."

"Makoto it's fine either way."

He took a dangerously long pause, and she sucked in her air.

"I think maybe at some point I could have; but not anymore. It's... but I still like... girls are still cute." He said at last.

She smiled, feeling the warmth rise up in her chest. At least he was honest.

" What about you; haven't you ever had a boyfriend? Not to sound as if you couldn't-"

"No. Right before we left there was this one guy who had liked me at some point, but then he was...he was just repulsed by me. _C'est la vie_," she gave a hollow chuckle, "but it's all fine now. It wasn't for a while, but things are okay now."

"Why would anyone be repulsed by you?!" His hands flew out to hold her by her shoulders at arms length. She drew away, slowly.

"Eh, Makoto, I wasn't joking earlier when I told you to lighten up your grip on my shoulders. You're a little stronger than me." She moved the sleeve of her shirt over, and down to glance at her collar bone. A few small, oval-ish red marks, with a blooming purple-blue looked bright against her skin in the dim lighting. Before he could apologize again, she cut him off just as he opened his mouth. "Anyway, I'll live, but no. That other guy, he was just really an ass. He was grossed out by my scar from the lighting, and then some other ones that I have. Really quite vain, but it doesn't matter." She kept repeating it to herself. She remembered how much she hated herself for letting him get to her, and that because she let him get to her she had inflicted such emotional, and physical pain on herself.

"Anyway, I meant to say this earlier, but it kept slipping my mind. I just wanted to thank you for letting me see Shields, and that I got to take him home with me. I had a cat a little while ago, but he was old, and frail, and died pretty quickly. It was fine, I wasn't up in arms about it. I mean, I had been expecting it, still sad, but...eh, you know. Also, thank you for coming with me tonight. Lately I've felt pretty, I don't know, maybe bored, or dull, or just kind of flat, like I can't feel too much; it's stupid really, but this helped a lot. I feel pretty happy right now."

Makoto was silent for a while.

"If it makes you feel any more comfortable with what you said before; I would be lying if I said I'd never kissed a girl before." She giggled as the train pulled up with a tiny screech.

* * *

"Is there anything wrong, Mako? You've been so quiet the entire time home." Firinne said fishing out the key to the house from her bag. Makoto followed her in without saying a word. They slipped their shoes off, and continued into the house.

"Maybe I'm still confused as to why someone wouldn't like you."

Blushing, she ushered him into the kitchen, and had him sit at the tall chairs at the island counter while she worked.

"I hope green curry is alright," she strained, standing on her toes to reach something from a high cupboard.

_Maybe this was a bad idea._ The voices in the back of her head snaked their way into her ears until she pushed them down.

"Perfect, it's my favorite!" He rested his elbows on the counter. "Are you ready for tomorrow, Firinne?"

"Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?" She clucked, with her back to him still.

"Tomorrow morning we're going to the beach, and the ocean to train, and do a little conditioning. We invited you a little while ago, I don't know if you would still like to…?"

"Of course!" She quipped. "Oceans, and beaches aren't my favorite, but it's the least I can do for all of you being so kind to me all of the time."

* * *

**Well I know this one took a few more days than the others, and the next one will too. I believe this one is a bit longer. It took a little longer to edit anyhow. I worked a 12 hour shift yesterday, and will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the county fair don't hate me. I work a little today, and tomorrow, and then school starts back up. I don't know why I'm writing this here, I'm just complaining, and being tired. Goodbye, I hope you liked this one. Be sure to review! :)**


	9. Water

Firinne woke the next day far earlier than she would have liked to. She rolled over in bed, checking the time. She had be at the train station in an hour and a half. The night before, out of pure kindness, she had agreed to go to the beach with Makoto, and the others. After texting her parents a couple times, late at night, and they had agreed, she rushed to pack her bag.

Her feet hit the cold floor, and she cracked her neck with a resounding _pop!_ She dragged herself to her vanity to pop her contacts in before she hopped into the shower. Makoto informed her they were staying in tents, and probably wouldn't have access to a shower, so she needed to do this now if she wouldn't have a chance any other time today.

As she dragged the shampoo through her curly hair she thought about her swim suit. She hadn't swam in years, and with good reason. Though after Makoto, and Nagisa had nagged her to come with them to the ocean with them, she had finally broke down, and bought one. It was a plain black, one piece with a black, sheer collar, and long sleeves.

A few minutes later she was lazily pulling herself down the stairs.

"I'm leaving now!" She yelled as she plopped in front of the front door. As she tugged on her Vans, she looked back through the hall. "You're...neither of you are here." She muttered. "Nevermind. Be safe Shields!" She yelled to the staircase. He was sleeping on her bed again. She pulled the strap of her bag over her shoulder, skipped out of the door, and locked it.

"Firinne-senpai, you're here!" Nagisa yelped out when Firinne strolled into the parking lot. They had all decided to meet at the new indoor swimming pool, and then would drive to the ocean from there in two cars. Firinne thought that they had said the boy's old swimming coach would be driving one car, and their club supervisor would be driving the other. Gou would ride with their supervisor, and the five others would ride with their old coach, Sasabe.

"What? I'm not late am I? I thought you said-"

"Don't worry so much McAvoy-san." Haru muttered under his breath.

Makoto gave a soft chuckle, rubbing at the back of his neck. His feet scuffed as he dragged himself to Firinne. Rei rolled his eyes with a soft sigh.

"Okay, we can head out now."

"What about Gou?" She asked, glancing around.

"Oh, her and Miss Ama decided to go out early, and grab some food, and get some things we can cook over a fire!" Nagisa said, already skipping over to the van parked near the entrance of the building. "I'm sitting up front!" He pulled open the door, and twisted back around to face them. "Rei-chan, and Haru-chan can sit in the middle, don't sit behind me Rei-chan! Mako and Effy-chan can sit in the back together!"

Firinne sighed at his happiness. She couldn't understand how one person could always be so excited, and joyful.

When they were packed in the van, and Firinne had been introduced to Sasabe again, they were off. She fished through her bag placed strategically between her and Makoto on the middle seat, looking for her phone.

"Did you remember a swim suit, Firinne?" Mako asked under Nagisa excitedly blabbering on to Rei about what they would do once they got there.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Nagisa scoffed under his breath.

Makoto's face flared up in bright red, and Firinne stared out the window, trying to hide the pink in her face. The rest of the people in the car, save Haru, looked back.

"Yeah, I did." She muttered, coughing under her breath. They all turned back away, chuckling under their breath.

It was a sweltering, and noon-time, and none of them had had anything but a couple granola bars to eat so far. Firinne was a little cranky, but the rest of them seemed surprisingly chipper. They set up the tents, and everyone quickly changed into their swim suits.

Rei, and Nagisa were sharing a tent; Haru, and Makoto were sharing; Miss Ama, and Gou were sharing; and Firinne was sleeping alone in her own small, personal tent she had brought along.

Shyly, she stepped out of her tent as Gou was giving the boys orders, and setting out their intense training schedule for the day. Rubbing her shoulder out of nervous habit, and glancing over a Miss. Ama who was covered in shade, she gripped tightly to her sketchbook. Her legs, and arms were so tense she barely noticed when she dropped her pencil, and tracing pen.

Shakily, she bent down to pick up her things from the sand. When she stood back up, Makoto was in front of her.

"Did you need any help?" He asked innocently.

"No, I'm fine, but why are all of you so happy? I mean I thought this was an intense training or conditioning type thing, and the only one I've heard even let out so much as a sigh is Nagisa."

Mako chuckled, and gave a sweet, small sigh.

"I guess we're all gluttons for punishment; but it's not too bad. Besides, I kind of like this sort of thing. But we've got to start now, so I'll be back later, okay?!"

"Ah, yeah that's fine! Now go, ya' weirdo."

He gave a small, nervous giggle, shifted on the balls of his feet for a moment, and then ran off with the rest of the boys.

Firinne plopped in the sand where she was, and began to sketch.

"Firinne!"

She had been so engulfed in her own artwork, she hadn't noticed the person in front of her until they had shaken her by the shoulders. Stretching her legs out under the pale towel, and pulling the knitted black, and white shawl a little tighter around her shoulders, she looked up at Makoto.

"Are you done already?"

She glanced at the sheen of sweat covering his body, and nearly made a face.

"Huh? No, Gou is just giving us a little ten minute break to get a little rest, and drink some water." He fell down beside her, and cracked the sweaty thermos of probably lukewarm water open. "You're drawing?" He leaned over, and took a glance.

She was relieved that he didn't smell like the small beads of sweat covering his body. He still smelled as he usually did; soft like honey, or vanilla with the underlying scent of cedar, or sandalwood.

"Yes, I didn't really know what else to do in the meantime. I talked with Gou every now, and then right after you all left, but then I just sort of wanted to draw I guess."

He leaned closer still to look at the simple sketch. It was two cute mermaids holding hands, and giggling like they knew something nobody else did. Their tales had been meticulously drawn, and each scale was shined to perfection.

"Amazing." He breathed.

She shrunk back despite herself.

"It's just a sketch, it's not that…" She took a deep breath, and looked at him for once straight in the eyes. "Thank you." She looked back down at the small pad, and tore the page out. Setting it beside herself, pulling out her phone for a reference picture, she started on something new. "Makoto, what do you want to do when you graduate?"

Glancing at his hands, she noticed how tense he had suddenly become.

"What's wrong? It's alright if you don't know."

"I don't. Do you?"

"I think so anyway. I'd like to be a Knowledge Engineer."

"A...a what?"

"A Knowledge Engineer sort of collects data, and information so that they can design, and create software programs that are...well basically more like humans. Or sometimes you can just create an artificial intelligence. It's sort of like making robots more like us." She laughed. "I know it sounds weird, and science-fictiony, but I like it."

"Where do you want to go to University?"

"Actually, and it sounds ridiculous, but I'd like to study at Maastricht University, but it's in the Netherlands. I've studied some Dutch, and this last year I've learned a lot of it, so thankfully I might be alright. I've applied there already, and I'm just waiting to hear back right now."

"Oh," he said sharply.

"Yeah, pretty stupid to come to some school already part of the way through the year, for your last year, and then go all the way across the world, huh?"

"It's not stupid at all." He said clearly.

"But heartbreaking. I like this place. Y'know, I was going to try to not make any friends." Looking away, she punched him in the shoulder. "You went, and ruined that!"

"Ah, well, I'm sorry for that." He teased back, nudging her with his shoulder. Guiding his smile, and steady gaze from the sand, down to her he realized how small she was compared to him. Her wrists were so narrow he could easily hold both of them in one hand. He pushed the idea from his mind, and quickly looked away. His eyes caught Rei's, who held up five fingers, while taking a long swig from his water bottle.

Makoto's eyes wandered back down to the redhead beside him. She tossed her sketchbook to the side, and began to gently sharpen a pencil. Her pale thighs were out in full sight now. Jutting out from her suit were thin, pale lines all in a row going about three inches down from where he could see. Though he didn't want to look back up at her, he felt her eyes blazing into him, and couldn't help himself.

"What happened to…" he lost his thought as their eyes locked. He realized, and tears threaten to well up in his eyes. He felt a flash of emotions, and then pushed it back down. Maybe it wasn't what it looked to…

"I did some stupid things. I was pretty damn stupid too, but I'm done with that. I hurt myself on the inside, and out, but I'm a little better now."

He looked at her sternly, and though she stared back with a strong, half-smile, she felt her stomach churning.

"We are talking about this more when we're done training. I mean...well, only if you want to." He added meekly.

"Of course."

The sun was setting by the time the boys were back. They were all sweaty, sore, tired, and huffing for air.

After dashing into his own shared tent with Haru, and grabbing a large, metal water bottle, Mako jogged to Firinne's tent. It was large, and grey, and easily big enough to fit three people comfortably. The entrance flap was zipped up.

He held a hand up as if he might knock, but put it down right after. His voice mustered up a little courage, and he spoke, just loudly enough for her to hear.

"Firinne, can I come in?"

It seemed as though he had to wait forever to get a response. His throat felt thick, and he didn't know if he could push out any more words. The sun was nearly setting, and the others had started a fire, and pulled out some things to roast over it. Nagisa was going on about how he had some scary stories to tell, and Mako shuddered. Even so, it was all background noise. Right now, it felt as if he was under water. Everything was muffled, but his own thoughts.

"Yeah, uh…" her voice came at last. He let out the breath he had been holding. "One second, let me unzip the thing."

He nodded though she couldn't see him.

The flap fell open, and she crawled out on her knees.

"Oh, I mean...of course, I don't know if you still want to. And I wouldn't know where, whether you want to talk in your tent or….I don't really know anywhere else, but…."

"How about we just take a walk?" She answered comfortably, standing. She straightened her shirt, and hiked her faded, torn capris up the slightest bit.

"I'll...uh, I'll go tell them. That we're going for a walk that is!"

"Be safe in your journey, Mako-chan!" She joked, and waved him along as he took quick steps back to the laughing group. They all stopped when he walked into their semi-circle.

"We're going for a walk." He said plainly, grabbing his sweatshirt off the sand by Haru.

Nagisa, and Gou both raised an eyebrow, and gave each other scheming looks.

"If you get back when we're all asleep, remember to put out the fire." Rei finally said.

Mako gave a sharp nod, and jogged back to Firinne who was digging through her small bag, looking for something.

"Are you ready?" He asked solemnly.

"Yeah, I was, uh, I was looking for my sweater. I thought I packed it because it was supposed to get chilly tonight, but I guess not."

"Here!" He shoved his sweatshirt into her arms. "Take this for when you get cold."

She gave a silent thanks to him, and they continued walking away from the group.

"So, I should just start." She sighed once they were a good enough distance away from the others. "I beat myself up a lot when I was a kid, and I guess I sort of always hated myself. I don't know why. I wish I hadn't as much as I had. Anyway, when Middle School started I got really stressed, and I didn't want to get better. So I didn't release my stress the healthy way by reading a book, or drawing, or anything like I do now. I would just say all of these horrible things to myself in my head, well sometimes aloud, but that makes me seem crazy, huh? And then I started actually hurting myself. I won't go into details about it, you don't need or want to know. Especially after the whole lightning scar thing, I thought that I was disgusting. I was better, and then I wasn't; but that's just the way things go. Then, a bit before I left Tokyo I ended up falling for some guy who saw my lightning scar, and then saw some other scars on me, and I relapsed.

"I've been better for a while now. Honestly, it's probably thanks to moving here. Everything is much more calm here, and I...the people are less hardened, and cruel. I'm not saying that the world, and university won't be harsh, and cruel, but this is a nice break from it all. That, and I've decided to get better. That doesn't mean I won't even screw up again, or be mean to myself again, but I don't think I'll ever...I don't want to ever do this...this kind of horror to my own body again."

She felt a tear trace down her cheek the same time strong arms wrapped around her lightly. For a moment, she was paralyzed, but then tightly hugged Makoto back. They stood and listened to the sound of the ocean, and their own breathing for the longest time. By the time Firinne's eyes had dried she felt something wet touch her forehead.

"Makoto," she gave a broken giggle, "You're crying?"

She just far enough away that she could see his face. After a moment he slowly opened his eyes. Her elbow, which was gently being held by his hands, gracefully traced her hand up to his face to wipe away a stray tear from his face.

Her hand lingered on his cheek as she searched his blushing face.

"C'mon now, don't make your pretty, green eyes all red." She cooed. His eyes were still glistening, and their beautiful green color was even brighter because of it.

"I just wish that I had known so maybe I could've- but, I just don't know…"

"Mako, Mako," she reassured, pulling his face so his eyes met hers. "You have no idea how much you've helped me. You're so kind, and caring, and polite all of the time. And you're just so, _so_ important. I think that's the best thing about you, actually; that you didn't need to know to help." Her thumb gently rubbed small, light circles on his cheek.

"Thank you," he said hoarsely.

She looked out to the ocean, and swallowed. In another second her hand was off of his face, and she had pulled her arms away from him.

"It's still so warm out," she looked out at the still setting sun.

"Do you want to go swimming?" He asked. "Oh! I mean, I forgot that you. We don't have to, and I mean it wouldn't be my favorite thing in the world either, but you know, I just wanted-"

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Sure, let's go swimming. You still have your suit on." She pointed down at his legs. His gray sweatpants had dropped an inch or two to reveal his black, and green bottoms. Her hands reached up to unbutton her blue and white pinstripe, collared shirt. It was in the men's section at some old thrift store, but she hadn't cared.

"Wh-what are you doing?!"

She swung her head toward him.

"What does it-I have a swim suit on, idiot!" She barked. "Dear god, I know we're friends, Mako, but I don't think we're quite on that level. Just because I hugged you back there doesn't mean you get any more benefits."

"Wh-bu-I-!"

"I'm only teasing!" She said as the shirt fell to the sand, and she pulled down her capris.

"R-right, I knew that."

"You're such a dork." She said under her breath, faintly smiling.

He took down his sweatpants, and shirt before wading into the water. He was up to his knees before he realized Firinne wasn't following him.

Looking back he saw her staring down at the water.

He waded back up to the shore.

"You have to get in to swim."

"I know, I just…"

"If you don't want to do this then you don't have to."

"No, no, I can do this." She took a deep breath, and quickly waded in till the water was nearly at her hip. Makoto quickly turned, and followed her in. Her arms were crossed, and her shoulders shook from the sudden chill of the water, and quick breeze that passed over. She glanced up at the graying clouds in the sky. Maybe it was just the shadow of the sunset. She waded a little further with her eyes shut tight. She felt the water around her, and breathed in, and out.

"Firinne?" Mako rested a hand on her shoulder, and she slowly opened her eyes. "You can't touch the bottom anymore." He stated plainly.

"I…" she looked down into the darkening water, "I know!"

He chuckled briefly, and they paused.

Firinne flopped around so that she was lying on her back, with her eyes half-closed, looking up at the sky. Makoto could still see the tension encased in her body. He looked away, toward the dim fire in the far, far off distance. It was barely a speck anymore; which was strange considering they hadn't walked too far away.

"Maybe we shouldn't go too far out, just in case…" when he looked back Firinne was much farther away than she had been moments ago. She wasn't on her back now, and was paddling, trying to get closer to him. The rocking waves kept pushing her back, as her weak arms pushed against it.

"Makoto!" She yelped, spitting out a mouthful of water. The first, fat raindrop fell, as he began kicking toward her. It wasn't too hard considering that was how the current was flowing.

"I'll be right there! You'll be fine!"

He could hear her coughs already, and he glanced up. He could almost see her now. Bobbing under, and out of the water. He looked back. He couldn't see the fire anymore. The raindrops became fatter, and heavier, and more plentiful with each second.

"Firinne!" He yelled, searching for her. She had been there only moments ago. With a small, shrill panicked noise, he stuck his head under the water, and came back up for air moments later. She was right in front of him, coughing, and hacking while her arms struggled to keep her above water. Waves crashed around them, and they were tore under the swelling darkness before either could take another breath.

Mako focused on her, and thrusted his arms, and legs as hard as he could. Everything ached, and burned from the rigorous workout of the day, but he couldn't let that phase him. His arms wrapped around a body as they came back up for air. He picked her up under her arms so she was a few inches above him as they both struggled for air.

"Hold on to me!"

Firinne was a bit shocked by his commanding tone, but didn't matter. She wrapped her arms around his collar bone, and her legs around his waist, and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get the water out of them. One of her contacts had fallen out when she went under once, and everything looked as though she was seeing through goggles with water splashed on the inside of them.

When she looked up again, they were closer to the shore. Not the shore where they had left their clothes, but shore nonetheless. Her grip slackened on Makoto for a moment, and he was swept under without her.

She cried out, but then dived under to grab him. Even with the help of the water, he was heavy for her. He had passed out. She finally got him situated on her back, holding one arm with her own to keep him above water, and paddling with the other until, puffing, and gasping for air, they were shoved onto the shore. She let her heaving body rest for a moment before grabbing both of Makoto's wrists, and pulling him, and herself as far away from the water as she could carry.

He was still out.

Tears fell, as she looked down at his blurry face. Her other contact had fallen out somewhere along the way as well.

Shaking it off, she leaned her head down to feel his pulse, and listen to his breath.

He was still breathing, and she let out a hiccuping sob.

She tilted his head to the side, letting the water come out. Taking a deep breath she tried to remember the rest of drowning resuscitation. After another hiccuping sob, she pinched his nose, leaned over….

And he coughed in her face. She scrunched her face, and wiped the water he had spit on her out of her eyes.

Kneeling beside him, she propped him, as he breathing evened out, and he opened his eyes.

His arms began to hurriedly move as if he was still in the water.

"Mako!" Firinne cried, holding his shoulders.

He stopped, and finally looked at her. He seemed to notice they were out of the water. Lightning crashed near them, and thunder followed.

"We should go back." She said, realizing how tired she was. Her limbs ached, and her chest and stomach felt like they were on fire. Water worked its way into her lungs, and she felt bile reach up into her throat. With a loud coughing, she turned away from Makoto, and threw up nothing but water.

Mako scurried on his knees to be by, and tentatively stroked her back.

"I'm fine," she breathed, sounding, very, very far from fine.

"C'mon," he helped her up by her arm, and crouched in front of her.

"What are you doing?" She wiped the remainder of the tears from her eyes.

"Get on my back."

Before she could respond, he wrapped his arms around the back of her knees, and picked her up. Sighing into his ear, she let her cheek rest on his shoulder, and gently tossed her arms around his collar.

"Aren't you tired?"

"Yes."

"Don't wear yourself out too much, Mako-chan." He tensed with her breath in his ear.

"I won't."

The rain kept pouring down around them.

They came across their soaked clothing, and though Makoto was insisting on carrying it, Firinne hopped off of his back then, and refused to let him. She let him rest one of his arms around her for support the rest of the way to the tents.

When they got back to the tents, everyone was already shut up in theirs, and the fire was out.

"Is everyone already asleep?" Firinne asked.. The rain had let up into a soft mist. The sound of a tent being carefully unzipped caught their attention.

They peered at the the tent as Nagisa peeped his head out.

"What're you guys doing?" He asked coyly, if not thick with tiredness.

"Going to bed now, I suppose." Firinne answered.

"Together?" He giggled. Somewhere in the tent they heard Rei tell him to shut up, and go back to sleep. He rolled his eyes.

"You have strange fantasies," Firinne chuckled, and kneeled by her own tent. She didn't even look up to see how red in the face Makoto was.

**So, anyway whew this was a little longer too I think. Oh, well. Anyway, please tell me what you think so far. What you think is going to happen? So this story isn't going to be too many more chapters, and the chapters that follow aren't going to be very long. Let's see this is chapter 9 so about five or six more chapters I think.**


	10. Breathe

Firinne shrugged herself to the classroom, and plopped behind a smiling Makoto.

"Are we studying tonight?" He asked to the top of her head.

She was absentmindedly going over notes for a quiz they were taking in a few moments.

"Ah, it's up to you. If we do I don't think we need to go more than two hours."

He glanced out the window, past Haru, to gaze at the dark clouds, and the small patter of rain that had started.

"I heard we were getting out of school early because of flood warnings."

"Probably, I wouldn't be surprised." She looked out the window for herself, and ran a hand through her messy, tangled, damp hair. "So would you like to study?"

"Yes," he said all too quickly. "Unless you have other plans, and maybe after we can go get something to eat? My father won't be home yet, and my mother is taking Ren, and Ran to a doctors appointment, and she won't be home with them until late."

"Are they sick?" She asked drearily.

"Huh? Oh, no they just both needed physicals." He looked out at the rain, and the memory of nearly drowning once again hit him. "I'm still sorry. About the other night. You shouldn't have had to save me like that. I don't even know how you carried me."

"Mako-chan!" She whined, but gave him a teasing glare. "Stop saying that. It's fine. We really weren't that far away from the shore when you passed out. Besides with all the intense exercise, and being up for so long it wasn't too surprising. Just be glad that we're both alive." She sighed.

There were whispers all around. Firinne glanced at the group of girls talking in a serious way, glancing at the two every now, and then. Makoto noticed too eventually, and glanced at them.

"Don't worry," he said. He opened his mouth to continue, but one of the girls approached. She had long, chocolatey hair in two long braids, and a deep blue hair ribbon.

"Are you the girl that saved Tachibana-kun from drowning?"

"Ahh...Hai." Firinne was mildly dumbfounded by her question, but took pride in answering. She had expected them to praise Mako for something.

"Wow, that's so cool! Nagisa was telling us all about it!" She threw a hand back at her friends.

Mako turned away, red to his ears.

"Nagisa…" he muttered gravely.

Thankfully, school was let out early, but the downpour didn't make it too much more enjoyable. Firinne stretched up, and glanced back at Mako. The swim team had already decided, much to Haru's disappointment, to cancel practice for the day.

"Come on, Firinne!" He nearly yelled, grabbing her by the elbow, and running her out of the classroom, and down the halls, and stairwells.

"Mako!" She yelped as they paused in the locker room to slip on their regular shoes. Firinne grabbed her umbrella out of her locker, suddenly remembering the mysterious person who had placed a note there. That seemed like so long ago now.

"Ah, Firinne, I sort of didn't bring an umbrella, and, ah…"

"C'mon," she said, walking toward open archway exit, "We can just share."

'Just sharing' was not as pleasant as it had sounded.

"Firinne." Mako sighed again.

She had brought her arms down too low, and the umbrella was resting nicely on his head. They were heading out to eat first, so had to walk a longer distance.

Looking back up at him, and muttering more apologies, she handed him the umbrella.

"Just carry it." She said at last. He took it gracefully with a small thank you.

By the time they came to a nice, warm coffee shop, they were both soaked.

As they walked out, the rain hadn't let up. If anything it had gotten worse. Makoto opened the umbrella was a flourish, and walked out in front of Firinne. Shivering a tiny bit, she followed.

In no time they were back at his house.

"Alright," she sighed, shivering still. "Well, I have a few things planned, but not too much."

"I can show you my progress in my newest English project." He offered.

"That sounds alright."

She followed him up the stairs, and plopped herself where she usually sat on the floor in front of his bed. They talked for a bit in English, going over basic phrases, and having little meaningless conversations.

Though there was nothing for him to read or watch, he had slipped on his glasses.

"Okay," she popped off the ground, and put herself on his bed beside him, "Show me your papers." He was already pulling out the notebook. She held them with one hand, and began reading. As she went, she felt something warm brush against her hand. With a small quiver she pushed it away, and muttered an apology.

Firinne read page, by page as carefully as she could to ensure he hadn't made any major errors. When she was done, she let the papers fall into her lap, and she looked back up at Mako.

He was much closer than she had anticipated. He must've been looking right over her shoulder, reading along, because their noses were touching now. Firinne felt her own face get hot as Mako's was dusted in pink. Her jaw locked itself in place while her mind seemed to blare just behind her temples. She felt she was thinking everything, and nothing. She was calm, but her chest had constricted, and she was suddenly aware of nothing but herself, and Makoto.

She could feel his hot breaths brush against her lips, and cheek, and felt her face grow pinker.

Mako wasn't any better off.

He could barely look away from her beautiful hazel eyes, and when he did, his eyes flashed down to her pink lips. She smelled like cinnamon, and honey, and so did her breath, he came to realize as their air mingled.

Slowly, as slowly as possible she leaned forward.

He was paralyzed. He didn't know what he was waiting for, and then he began to lean in little by little.

Their lips nearly brushed, and then…

"WHELP!" Firinne stood, and walked two paces across the room to pick up her bag, and unceremoniously shove her things inside. "That's all, your essay is nearly perfect, I just left some, uh, notes! Bye!" His door slamming shut brought him from his daze.

Nothing had happened.

"I can't catch my breath." He marveled at the door.

His feet were up, and moving before he knew what was going on.

"Firinne! Please wait!" He nearly tripped over himself running down the stairs. "Ple...she's gone?"

Mako knawed at his lip, and rubbed the back of his neck before he slowly shut the door, hoping maybe she was closeby; that maybe she would come back.

Firinne stood, hands on knees, bent over, and trying to catch her breath. She was certain that she hadn't run that fast in years. Her cheeks burned, and her head felt light. She wasn't sure whether it was because of the lack of oxygen, or if she was still in shock from the close contact. If she touched her cheek lightly enough she could still feel the trace of his breath on her. And if she closed her eyes, and thought for only a moment, she was back in his room, and she could smell the soft sandalwood, and vanilla of him.

Even one single review would be extremely welcome.


	11. Foggy

Firinne walked to school the next day. That morning she had managed to coax herself into think that she needed the air, and a walk would be good for her. Though she did have to wake up a bit earlier than usual. As she trudged along, she realized how ridiculous this all was.

There was no way Mako could like her, she rationalized. He was just a natural flirt, and that stupid thing in his bedroom had just been a little accident, and little bit of staring that was taken a little too far. But that was all on her part, and she took all of the responsibility.

She hiked up another hill, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Hopefully he doesn't think I'm trying to be rude by doing this." She thought aloud to the quiet of the street. "Oh, this was so stupid!" Though she was chastising herself, she was laughing.

Surprisingly, she was earlier than most others when she arrived to school. For only a brief second, she found herself staring at the seat in front of her. Shaking her hands, and opening up her small sketchbook, and blinked hard a few times. Her hands restlessly tapped, and sketched as more people filed into the room.

The moment he walked in she felt his eyes on her.

Internally she argued for what seemed like hours with herself whether she should look up or pretend to stay oblivious.

Her head shot up out of nervousness, and she gave him a quick grin.

His face, which she had noticed was slightly hardened, seemed to become a little softer with her gentle reassurance.

The close contact hadn't meant a thing.

Firinne couldn't count how many times she had repeated it to herself that morning.

"Firinne, you weren't on the train. I thought you might be sick." He said, with a bit more pep than usual in his voice.

"No, I just woke up a bit earlier, and decided to walk because it was warm, and Shields was too sleepy for me to waste time with."

"Ah, speaking of which, could I come over to see him again? I just sort of miss seeing him every day."

"If you want we can study at my house."

"I thought you said…"

"Yeah, when the house wasn't unpacked you couldn't come over, but it's been a couple of months now, Mako. I guess it just didn't really occur to me, and I like your family anyway. Ran is so cute, she reminds me of you." She giggled silently, and smiled softly with her head still watching the pencil scrawl at the paper.

Mako gave a short, simple chuckle, and turned back around to face the front.

Firinne suddenly felt like a small pile of bricks had lifted from her shoulders.

"OI!" A voice rang down the hall.

Firinne cringed, she was sure it wasn't directed at her, but the suddenness of it had made her jump. She glanced back at the girl who had yelled back. She had long, plaited, mid-tone plaited brown hair, and was running down the hall toward Firinne.

"Yeah, you! Fireball!"

She cringed again. The girl was coming toward her. She wasn't sure what class she was in, though she knew that they were in the same year as one another. Vaguely, she recalled the girl's name being Hiro, or something similar to that.

"Hey," she finally caught up with said Fireball, and draped an arm around her shoulder, "So, I'm Chihiro, and I know you're Firinne, but what I would like to know is if you're dating Tachibana-kun, or what?"

She felt her face heat up, and clutched her books to her chest. School had just ended, and she was heading out to sit on the bench now.

"No, I'm not."

"Well, why not?" She shrugged her arm off of Firinne. "He really likes you."

"No, he doesn't. He's like that with everyone, he's just sort of a natural flirt; it can't be helped."

"Hmmm...I wouldn't go as far as to say that, Fireball. I haven't seen him talking to awfully friendly with too many other people, but yourself in a while. Besides, don't you look up at him ever? Just look at the way he looks at you!"

Firinne skidded to a stop.

"W-wait! I don't even know you!"

"I know! I know, sorry, I know I'm a bit too much." She interjected sincerely. "It's just that I don't like to see people be in skinny love for too long. It drags out after a while, and gets painful. Believe me, I know," she sounded serious for only a moment, "So I'm just making sure that nothing happens that'll hurt you. I like you. You seem nice, and you're cute too."

Firinne blushed as they began walking again.

"Alright, but it doesn't matter. He's like that with almost everyone. Not just me, but...but Gou sometimes, and even the other guys on the swim team! He's just so friendly I think it comes off as flirting sometimes."

"I just want you to know that out of all of the girls I've seen Tachibana-san talk to since the beginning of the year, you're different. He doesn't usually go out of his way to talk to people in general. I mean, he's definitely friendly, and all, but it's not like he's...he's not an extrovert."

"Like you?" Firinne sighed, though it was in jest. "His personality type in INFJ. In the whole Myers-Briggs. I mean, in case you were wondering...it doesn't really matter…"

"Oh...oh, I see. You guys are sharing personality types, this must be serious."

"He doesn't-!"

"Stop lying to yourself." Chihiro said sternly. "Promise me you will ask him."

"I couldn't…"

"Yes, you can." The girl started jogging in the opposite direction of her. "Come talk to me again when you finally do something!"

Firinne was flustered, and red. Taking a heaping breath, she sighed, and started walking up to the pool instead.

"Firinne, you stayed after."

She was startled by the soft voice behind her.

"Mako-chan, don't do that. You scared me." She teased.

He turned red as quickly as it had come out of her mouth.

"Eh-ee-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Makoto, I'm only teasing."

She poked him in his chest, feeling her hand tense as she hit his exposed skin. Her hand lingered for a moment, before she realized what she was doing. Though to him, it was only a mere second, and in fleetful passing.

"I...I know. But why did you stay? I figured I could take a break from studying for a little while." He said plainly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, no I just wondered if you wanted to see Shields, but if you have other things to-"

"Yes!" He cleared his throat, pushed his hair back.

Firinne swallowed, and lightly cleared her own.

"No, no, of course. I would love to come by, and see him!"

"Alright," she beamed despite herself, "That sounds great! You don't have to come over right away if you're tired, or have a lot of work to do."

"Oh, thank you so much!" He said as someone called his name. "I...I have to go."

"See you later." She grinned.

**oh no this story is ending way to fast only two or three more chapters left halp. but anyway here's a link of a cute gif of Mako sleeping **** post/95919954693 **

**Also reviews are nice.**


	12. Foggy Pt 2

"Wait! Mako-chan!" Nagisa came sprinting up behind the taller boy. "Gou wanted you to go up as early as you could so she could talk to you in private."

"I'm doing well in English, that's not a problem…"

"I know," he winked, "It's not necessarily about that." He chuckled slyly.

Sighing, with a tinge of worry, he dragged himself up the steps.

As he massaged the tenseness out of his wrists, he thought about the night before. He had spent it awwing, and ooing at the pretty girl, but had to play it off every now, and then as if Shields was his main focus. He wouldn't say that he regretted spending so much time talking to, and about the cat, and playing with the cutie. But something felt unfinished about the whole ordeal.

He got shivers thinking about what had happened the last time they had studied together.

_What came over me?_

As he neared the top of the stairs he could already hear Gou talking. After a moment he realized that she must be on the phone, as he couldn't hear any other voices. He waited a moment, until she hung up, to walk out in front of her.

"There you are! Finally!" She pushed the stray hairs of her ponytail back. "We need to talk." She said sternly, though there was a touch of lightheartedness, and mischief tucked inside somewhere.

"What about?" He shrugged off his bag.

"Firinne."

Mako opened his mouth to speak.

"Now, wait. I was just talking to Rin, and he says that he knows you two better than anyone else besides Nanase-senpai, and Sousuke-senpai. He can, and could tell a very long time ago that you really seemed to like her."

"Firinne doesn't…"

"But do you?"

He thought for a moment. Though it was only one, pure, simple, quick second time seemed to drag on, and on. His mind stopped momentarily, and he was stuck thinking. He loved her as a friend, so of course he liked her. Here, and now though he was faced with the question of 'Would he like to have a romantic relationship with her'. That was on a different level completely.

With the second nearly completed, his answer came.

"Ah, I see...but if you would even like anything Rin said to just call him. And tell Firinne that you see her." Gou muddled out.

"I...I think Firinne likes Rin." He said plainly.

"I don't think so," Gou chuckled.

"I'm not so…"

"Senpai, why don't you pay attention to how she treats you compared to others? Just an idea to try. You could probably do it tomorrow in homeroom if you really wanted to I suppose."

"I'm not so sure of that." He sighed. "Should I tell her if she asks, or just tell her?"

"That's up to you."

It was done. His decision was done, and final, and there was no going back now. For now, there was no real reason to tell her. She was still infatuated by Rin, and telling her would probably hurt her, or even annoy her more than he already had.

Gou had walked away by the time he had looked up.

He had more important things to worry about at this point.

There was still so much training that needed to be done for the important meets coming up. They would probably end up staying at the pool until sundown if they had to. Ever since the last time where Mako had delayed them, and set back their time, they realized that they needed a little more practice in switching during the relays.

There was also his future to worry about.

It seemed that everyone, but him knew what to do. He did admit to having small bouts of panic whenever the thought of what would come next came to him.

"That's right!" He said resolutely to the empty hallway. "I don't have time to think about Firinne like this, no matter how wonderful, or funny, and smart, or how terrific of a…no! I don't have time. Not right now anyway." He walked out into the changing room without a word, and set his bag down.

_Besides, she said that she wanted to go to school in...in the Netherlands. The way she talked about it, it sounded as if she would never want to come back. Why would she? Maybe just to visit her parents._

Internally Mako slapped himself.

_After all she's said, and all we've been through in such a short amount of time, how can you say that? She's been so kind, and loving, why would she just drop me, or even all of us as friends after this?_

Tugging off his shirt, he tried to recall when she had been in his arms. He pushed past the terror of the memory of the crashing waves, and booming thunders, and the suffocating water, and just thought of her. He could remember how her soft body felt in his arms, and could nearly recall how each of her small, gasping breaths felt against his chest.

Closing his eyes he remembered as they were walking back to the tents. He had been so, so painfully tired, and exhausted, but he had carried her. It had been for selfish reasons though, he had scolded himself later. He just wanted to feel her body, and her heartbeat against him again. He could recall how he could feel her every breath in his ear, and her pounding heartbeat against the back of his chest. Her tired legs had drooped around his waist after he had let go of her knees.

"Makoto-senpai?"

He jumped, pulled out of his memory.

Rei was standing beside him with his suit already on.

"You've been standing there like that the entire time. Are you alright?"

Mako glanced up at the shirt held above his head, and shrugged it down.

"Mako-chan, you're blushing!" Nagisa came out of nowhere from behind him.

"I was just thinking." He muttered, pulling his suit out, and pulling his pants down. His face was still bright red.

"'Bout what?" The blonde teased. Mako shrugged uncharacteristically. "Effy-chan, maybe?"

The pink in Makoto's cheeks travelled up to his ears.

After sitting on the beach with a usually unresponsive Haru, he slowly walked home. He passed by Firinne's house, and paused. He stood in front of her door for what seemed like the longest time debating.

He shouldn't knock, it was late at night, and her parents would probably find him odd, and rude to this at such an h-

The door swung open.

"Makoto, what are you doing here?" Firinne was in pajamas already, wearing a long shirt the reached her mid-thigh, and had an orca jumping out from water. She looked tired, and had dark, purple bags under her eyes. He didn't realize that Shields was in her hands before the cat squirmed out, and ran back into the house. "Mako? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! I was just...I realized that I didn't see you today, and was wondering if you would like to go to regionals?"

"Regionals for what?" She prompted tiredly, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

He shook, sticking his hands into the pockets of the jacket.

"For swimming," he answered plainly. "I know you're tired, but you can't be this out of it." He teased.

"Eh…" she muttered something incoherent under her breath. "Do you want to come in for a drink, or to see Shields. I just had him," she yawned, and swiveled around to look for the cat. As she did the long shirt rode up little, by little, and most of her pale thigh was exposed. "Whatever, it's too late now, and…." she trailed off into broken English with a heavy accent that Mako couldn't understand. "...so g'night." She breathed looking back at him.

Though he looked perplexed, she shrugged.

"I don't know half of what I just said either, Mako-chan. Sorry." Firinne reached up, and stood on her tiptoes to ruffle his hair, only really succeeding in brushing his hair that always fell down in front of his face. "Why is your face so covered by your hair?"

He gave her a deep chuckle, and ruffled her already messy hair.

"Goodnight, Firinne."

She gave a small nod, and closed the door.

Mako sighed, and began his slow walk home.

"Wait!" The door had swung open again. "Just send me a text saying what time, and where regionals are, and I can probably go! I'll just forget if you tell me right now."

With his head turned partially toward her he nodded again, and waved.

**Alright so just the second part so another quick-ishy one. You guys tell me if you like the serious or fluffy more? Still a little cute, and a lead up. The next chapter will probably be up soon, and I know I've given a lot of fluff, but really it's just to balance out how dark of a character I realize that I've made Firinne into, so y'know...but, yeah so I've just watched episode 9 of ES, and am still in tears because...I mean Sosuke bby no be okay I love you. And of course Haru needs to calm the frick frack down. Anyway next chapter will have I think two little spurts of fluff, but nothing too much.**

**But it won't be too serious either really, just sort of a middle ground I think.**


	13. Touch

"Hey, Makoto, I know you're probably busy, but I just want you to know that I can only make it down for a little bit of the meet, or whatever you call it. I'm sorry, I mean I can make it down the night before, and I'll probably stay at the hotel that the rest of you are staying at for the night, but the next day I can probably only stay for a little while, and you said you were going towards the beginning anyway, right? Well even if you aren't I'll stay to watch just the first couple of races or whatever they're called, and then I have to go. Sorry, sorry I'm just a little busy."

Mako put his phone beside him when the message was done. He had briefly listened to it once before, just to see if she was going, but not all the way through. At this point it was obvious she was going anyway, he had one of her folders, and she needed it that day so she would have to come either way. They were nearly there, though he wasn't completely sure where 'there' was. Firinne apparently did though.

Dragging her tiny suitcase behind her, Firinne climbed into the elevator. Pushing the button, she paused, realizing that someone else was in there. It was a boy with dark, black hair, and bright blue-green eyes. He was tall, maybe even taller than Mako, she thought, and was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

Another quick glance, and she noticed his Samezuka jacket, and his extremely tense shoulder.

"You swim at Samezuka?" She asked quietly, trying to make polite conversation.

"Yes." He answered plainly.

"Rin is the captain, isn't he? I haven't seen him in a while, so I suppose this is good."

His relaxed grimace tightened for a moment.

"He is."

She didn't know what else to say. The elevator would be there soon enough anyway.

"Oh!" She glanced back at him as the elevator slowed. "You must be Sosuke Yamazaki. Yeah, the last time I saw Rin he was talking all about you. He said you two were best friends in school, and that you were basically the best swimmer he knew." She grinned, slightly trying to brighten the boy's day.

_I don't know, I think Makoto's friendliness is rubbing off on me a little too much._

She thought as the doors opened, she was one floor above the others. Sosuke walked out past her as the door opened, and she picked up her bag to drag it across the hallway.

As soon as she tossed her things in her bag she went out to get to the elevator again to go down, and get her folder from Mako.

She stepped out past the corner to the see the elevator closing with that same boy that was on when she went up, going down.

Sighing, she stepped up, and pushed the down arrow a couple of times, hoping that no one would be in the other one. Thankfully, that one came up fairly quickly.

As she stepped into the room she noticed that Haru wasn't there.

Neither was Mako.

"Haru, c'mon, come back. I'm freezing, and I don't want to get the carpet wet!"

Firinne nearly cried out when she heard his voice come from the bathroom.

"Mako?" She choked out.

"Eh! Firinne, why are in here?!" She heard the glass shower door swing shut.

"Do you need a towel, Mako-chan?" He could hear her words through the giggles.

"I...yes." He said opening the door a fraction of an inch so she could hear him.

She looked around for a moment, opened a few drawers, and finally found the plain white towels, stacked neatly along with some extra blankets, and pillows.

Spinning on her heel she swung open the door, and quickly chucked the towel in.

A muffled thank you came a few moments later, and a few minutes later Mako walked out.

He had loose shorts on, and the towel around his neck.

Firinne stayed seated on the bed, and looked at him as plainly as she could without blushing.

It didn't matter anyway, his face was already pink.

"I forgot to bring my shirt into the shower with me." He mumbled, and turned to dig through the dresser drawer.

Firinne glanced up at his strong back, and arms, and bit both sides of her cheeks hoping to stop the red creeping up into her face, or the grin that was forming on her lips. Makoto slipped the shirt on wordlessly, and turned back to face her.

"Isn't Nanase rooming with you?" She asked to break the silence, and steady eye contact.

"He left only a little bit ago."

Mako seemed to relax a little, and he moved to sit on his bed beside her. He tossed the larger towel onto the nightstand. Taking a smaller towel from the pillow her dried off his hair, and stuck it around his neck.

"So, you have my folder?" She asked at last.

"Oh! Right!" He sputtered out, and stood up, rushing to the other side of the room, and tearing open his bag. He came back with the plain, black folder, and sat beside her again. "You're very good at being organized." He pushed his sopping hair back so his eyes, and forehead were exposed.

"Except when it comes to my room. And my life." She scoffed. "Oh, sorry, I guess I'm just a little tired."

"You should go back to your room then." He sighed.

"Nah," she yawned, and stretched, "Actually I think that you're bed is more comfy than mine." Chuckling, she flopped back, and curled up on his bed.

"Firinne," he warned.

"Alright...alright." She moaned, and rolled so she was standing. Dragging her feet she stood of him. "I'm going." Before either could say or think another thing, she had wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and stood there. Her head collapsed onto his shoulders, and they sleepily sighed into each other's ears.

At last, she painfully pulled back.

"Goodnight, Makoto." With her hands still on his broad shoulders, she leaned forward, and gave him the quickest peck on his forehead. Her lips barely brushed his skin before she skipped away, rushed to pick up the folder, and left the room.

FIRINNE to MAKOTO: i'll be a little late, i'm a little sick this morning sorry

MAKOTO to FIRINNE: it's fine! :)

Firinne crawled out of bed finally, not wanting to miss the races. She grabbed another tissue, and blew her nose.

"Damn allergies," she muttered, rubbing at her cheeks, and sinuses.

Hopping into a nice, long, hot shower, and getting dressed, and ready only took a matter of minutes. She pulled on her glasses, and a large, comfy sweater, and shorts, not really wanting to dress up at all. She brushed through her coarse, curly hair, and pulled it up into a stubby ponytail.

Grabbing her phone, she rushed off to the arena pool.

She made it just in time. Well, not necessarily. She could only stay for about ten more minutes, and then she had to leave. The thing she was thankful for was that she was able to see Mako. Carefully, from an entrance to the locker rooms, she watched him. As he finished, she glanced up at the leaderboard. 5th. These other people were amazing if they could beat Mako like that, she thought.

He climbed out of the pool, and accepted a towel to dry off with.

She watched as he smiled up at his team mates, and then slowly looked over to notice her. He beamed.

He jogged over, still slipping on his jacket.

"Are you alright? You look a little sick."

"I'm fine, Mako-chan." She said with a slight sniffle. "It's just allergies."

"Ah, alright." He said as they began to walk together down the dark, dreary hall. "I was fifth."

"I saw."

"I won't make it to finals."

"That's doesn't matter in the long run though. Besides, I don't know about everyone else, but personally I thought you did great. Honestly, I just love watching you swim." She gushed. "You get this really serious look on your face, and you look so passionate. I love watching people when they're passionate. You really get to see them for them, and it's sort of...calming."

"I understand." He said. "Like you when you draw, or talk about language, or other people."

She gave a choked giggle on account of her sore throat.

"I suppose. But either way you still did great." She said walking a little ahead of him.

"Well," he jogged to catch up to her. In a split-second decision, he picked her up by her waist, and spun her around. "Thank you." He sputtered out.

She held her hands firmly on his shoulders, and he kept her lifted in the air.

"Mako?" She asked quietly.

"Eh?"

Slowly, very slowly, he opened his eyes.

Something soft was on his cheek before he could register what was happening, and before his eyes were opened all the way.

Firinne pushed herself out of his arms, and nearly toppled to the ground. In a panic, she stared up at him. He looked back down at her, arms still outstretched, and reaching, wanting to hold her again. A hand was firmly clasped over her mouth.

She removed it for a moment to give a small, nervous laugh.

"I have to go."

He had never seen a more painful expression cross her face.

**You know when you have a time limit due to school, and know you have to finish this story now because if you don't you'll forget about it, you get things done. Also small warning ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT. I'm crying you guys.**


	14. Words

The second thing that came to Firinne's mind the morning she woke up was that she would have to go to school, and see Makoto. Inwardly, she cringed just thinking about it. The first thing that had came to her mind, in case you were curious, was the thought of annoyance with her alarm tone.

She chastised herself for pecking him. Twice. She had done it twice! Once because she was tired, and slightly disoriented, and the second because she was just so happy. It had been a long time since she had been gleeful, and joyful like that. And she was scared of that. She was scared of Makoto, and what he could make her feel. He lifted the darkness away, while still making her keep her head level, and on the ground. There was absolutely nothing she could do for him in return, or so she thought.

In reality, she had helped him. He had never felt so light before. His dependence on Haru was fading, as it was going to have to when they graduated anyhow. But he wasn't growing dependent on her. It wasn't entirely that though; she had simply made him fall in love with her. He loved watching her work, and be passionate. It was when she was most herself, as she had said about him. Her words, and her voice seemed to outdo the best novels, all of which she had read.

She was so smart, and knowledgeable, and wise that he couldn't help, but be completely, and totally interested in every single word that cascaded out of her mouth. Her sentences read like poetry, and her speeches like a song to him.

But neither knew it.

Firinne slugged her way to the train that morning, not wanting to walk all the way to school just to avoid one, stupid boy. She arrived, still walking slowly, just as the doors opened. Something clicked, and she sprinted in to get on.

Glancing around, and looking for a good, empty seat, she finally found one a few back from the group of boys. Glad that her earbuds were in, though she wasn't listening to music, she dashed by them, but not without making eye contact with Mako first.

_He didn't even try to smile. He's probably upset with me, or annoyed. Either way he shouldn't be the one that gets upset or angry! I should! Well...angry with myself because I like him, but it shouldn't be like that._

As she plopped down in her seat, she switched her music back on, and cranked up the volume.

Mako tried not to stare as she walked on. She looked so stoic, and hard. It wasn't hard for him to tell that she was upset with him.

_She's angry with me for not being Rin._

He thought soberly. It wasn't as though he held anything against Rin. The way she talked about him, it was as if he had been her saving grace in those last three hard years.

_I've done nothing for her._

The thought brushed by, and stung him hard.

He still couldn't help, but try to bring back the soft memory of when she had given him the soft comforting kiss on his forehead before she had fled away to go to sleep. That's all it had been though. She was tired, there was simply no other way she would have done that being fully aware.

_But she...after my race when I picked her up, and she...but the look on her face as if she had made a huge mistake was horrifying._

"Mako-chan!" Nagisa called out for a third time. "Stop daydreaming we're at our stop." There was a hint of annoyance under his playful voice. Had they really arrived so quickly?

He cringed as Firinne brushed past him.

"Nagi-!" Firinne's shrill cry was cut off by a teacher glaring at her across the hall.

The blonde had made off with her metal water bottle, and sprinted down the stairs to his own homeroom. Silently, and defeated she made off, dragging her feet to her own homeroom.

When she arrived, her eyes travelled to her own seat. Only to see Mako chatting excitedly with a few girls around him, and looking to Haru every now, and then, trying to get a sentence out of him.

He caught her in a matter of seconds, but didn't hold her gaze for more than half of a second.

She felt a rock drop through her throat, into her lungs, and down to stomach. Along the way it had scrapped her heart.

Her feet took her to her seat, gently squeezing past the three girls, and slowly sitting at her desk. She swallowed a few times, just to make sure that she could still breathe.

The day passed by without a single word passing between either of them, and when it came time to clean the classroom, she opted to stay later than everyone else, and tidy up excessively. As she stumbled out into the hall, books in hand, and backpack on, a single tear threatened to spill over. Quickly, even though no one was there to see, she blinked it away.

"But Nagisa still has my water bottle." She said to herself emptily. "I have to get that."

When she arrived up there, they all appeared to be talking. Practice appeared to be over, and they were all dressed with their jackets over their swim suits. She stood in silence, not wanting to interrupt for a good minute or two before Nagisa noticed she was standing there.

"Ah! Effy-chan!" He cried out, and went to run to her.

She kept her eyes on Makoto for a moment before looking back to the boy in front of her.

"Where's my water bottle, Nagisa? I need to go home." She stared at her feet.

His expression fell, a little, and he looked back at Mako for help.

"It's in the locker room," he said, a little defeated.

"Alright, thank you." She said tightly, with a forced smile. Her feet took her there before her mind had caught up.

From behind her, she heard some whispering, but ignore it. She glanced around the room before spotting her plain, dark green, metal bottle high up on a shelf. It would be amazing if she could reach, but she had to try.

She tossed her bag down behind her, and stood up on the one foot bench below the lockers, and leaned over the high, metal shelves, and reached as far as she could.

"Do you need some help?" A gentle, low voice came from behind her.

She nearly tripped onto the ground with a jolt of shock.

"Y-yes, thank you." She said hoarsely. It didn't matter, he was already next her, standing on his toes to grab it.

In less than two seconds, the lights went out in the room, and the door slammed shut with a _click!_

"He locked us in." Mako sighed.

"So we can sort this out." She said shakily.

"Sort what out?" He forced out, with a tense chuckle.

She choked on her throat for a moment.

The room was silent, and nearly pitch black. The only thing she could see were Makoto's bright green eyes staring back into her own. One this bench, she was his height.

"Makoto, are you upset with me?" She asked earnestly.

He took in a long, silent breath.

"No, I don't think so." He muttered out.

"I wanted to make sure after the other day, and I sort of…" she trailed off, and let her words hang in the darkness.

"Don't worry, I know it's because you love Rin. You probably just regretted doing that to me because you wished it was him."

She scoffed.

"Excuse me?" Her voice raised up. "I don't even like Rin, not like that anyhow-"

"You don't need to lie about it." His tone was tense, and his voice raised up a fraction.

"I'm not lying! What in the...I don't like Rin, I-"

"It's been so obvious, since the first time you saw him! You two talked forever, and you were happier after that. Only he make you happy!"

"That's not true, Makoto! Listen, I'm trying to explain that-"

"Don't." He cut her off coldly, and immediately regretted it. The tension in the room slowly rose, until it seemed to boil over.

"Well, what about you?! Y-you go around, and you flirt with everyone, and then act all shocked, an-and surprised when they-!"

"No, I don't. You just mo-"

"What do you mean?! 'No, I don't'," she fumed. "You almost kissed me the last time we studied, and then you just stopped. You didn't do anything, you just sat there. An-nd," she was so worked up her words came out as broken, and stuttering, "then when you were so gentle, and you just stroked my back while I showed you my lightning scar! So don't-"

"I didn't do anything because you love Rin." His voice dipped, and was dangerously quiet. "It would have been wrong. You can't tell me that I'm-"

"You're wrong!" Though she whispered it sounded as if she was trying to yell. In the same moment her words had started she raised up a hand. Though it was only up to find the lockers for some support, through the dim lighting, Mako thought she was going to slap him. He didn't think she was wrong, but he caught her wrist.

She hiccuped in a breath.

"Don't cry," he cooed. He brought her hand down by her side, and leaned in to hold her face. "Shh...shh, please don't cry."

"I'm fine," she gave a grave chuckle, "You should be the one who…" she didn't finish, and instead put a hand on his face, and stroked his cheek. A salty tear fell onto her thumb. "We were fighting, what happened?"

He sighed, "I'm not sure." He teased. "We're both too emotional."

"I like you." She breathed out. "It's alright if you don't-"

His hand wrapped around the back of her neck, and pulled her in softly.

She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, and lifted her arms away from him to put them around the back of his neck. Both grinning like idiots, and Firinne leaning down a fraction of an inch, their lips met.

Their lips moved softly against one another for only a moment before they pulled away from one another. Firinne felt her face heat up, and she could feel the air leave her lungs. Suddenly she felt light, like air, and suddenly wanted to be as close to Makoto as possible. Only a single thought passed through her though, was how he had looked before they had closed their eyes. It made her blush even deeper. He had looked like he did when he was swimming; so focused, and concentrated. Their breath mingled as they leaned their foreheads against each other.

"I like you." He gave a soft smile, and leaned forward again to simply hold her in an embrace. Maybe it was to hide how deeply red his face was. She held him back by his shoulders, giving him a brushing peck on nose, and then lips.

"No, no, no. You've got to get my water bottle first." She teased him with butterfly kisses, and plopped onto the bench.

"Alright," he breathed, and stretched up.

He tossed it down to her.

"We should go." She said, hopping up. Her hand searched for Mako in the dark, and dragged him toward the door. She was surprised when it opened, swearing that she had heard it lock when it was slammed shut. "They all left. No one is here." She glanced down at her watch. "We missed the train." She grumbled, ducking back into the room to grab her bag, and head toward the door. They had conveniently left the keys to lock up on the door handle on the way out.

Makoto had stayed in the room, and slowly closed the door.

"I...um, I'm just going to get changed now." He stuttered out, and quickly closed the door.

Firinne chuckled, and brought a hand up to her face to feel the heat rise up in her cheeks again. For once in a long time, she didn't stop smiling until she went to bed that night.

**Whelp. One more chapter. Please review.**

**Buuuut then I might do a little secondary series of things that I wrote, but didn't make the editing cut, or little cute epilogues, or things, or interactions like between Rin and Firinne because though they don't have feelings for each other they're still friends.**


	15. Fin

**TOWARDS THE END THERE IS A VAGUELY/SLIGHTLY NSFW (notsafeforwork) SCENE, AND I ADDED A (!) WHERE IT STARTS IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ THAT.**

**One a lighter note thank you all for reading this, this is it though. The last chapter.**

"Firinne-chan," Makoto sung quietly, prodding her in the shoulder. She had texted him the night before, asking him to come over in the morning. Right now though, she was curled up on the couch with her back to him. She grumbled something unintelligible, and rolled over. Mako watched for a few more moments, taking in her soft features, and her half-open mouth slowly breathing in, and out.

Sighing, he stood, and wandered into the kitchen where Shields was spread out on the floor, lazily meowing for food and water. He fed the cat, stroking his back until he purred, and nuzzled against his ankle.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud from the room over.

"Oh, god!"

Firinne muttered out a few more words, mostly in broken English and Japanese. He listened to her shuffled around, and jog up the stairs.

Not sure of what to do, Makoto sat at the kitchen island. Shields jumped up on the chair beside him, and nudged at his hand. Mako listened to the shower start, and rested his chin in one hand, still petting the cat with the other. He wasn't sure how long it was until he heard her jog down the stairs again.

He stayed silent as she dragged herself into the kitchen, wearing just a towel.

Stuttering, he stopped stroking Shields.

"F-Firi-"

She yelped, looking up at him.

Glancing back down at herself, she shrugged.

"I'll go put clothes on," she sighed, "Though I'd rather not," he heard her mutter as she pulled herself back out of the room.

Mako sighed with a slight smile. They were going to be camping as a sort of final excitement for the school year. It seemed like so long ago now that Haru had gone to Australia, and he had decided to go to a university in Tokyo. Firinne had finalized her plans to go to a university in the Netherlands, and was leaving shortly.

"Mako, do you have your bags packed?!" She called down the stairs, stepping down.

"Hai! Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me grab a couple of things," she jogged into the kitchen, and set her duffle bag on the table. She grabbed up Shields, and let him nuzzle into her chest, and petted him softly. "We've got to go, I'm sorry. Mom, and Dad will be home soon, they just had to leave early this morning, alright? We'll be gone though. For a whole two nights!" He mewed in response, and kneaded his head into her collar bone. "Alright, can you grab the little case of water out of the fridge? It's the one that has ten waters in it. I'll grab the rest of the food, and we can go." She plopped the cat down on the floor, and began humming as she skipped around the room grabbing up the cooler, and lugged it to the front door.

He sighed at her struggling arms, it would be no use to offer help, she would only deny him.

The walk to the train station was long, and full of light silence.

"Mako, what am I going to do with Shields?" She croaked quietly at last as the train pulled up, and they dragged themselves into it. "I can't bring him with me, and I can't leave him with my parents, they're gone too much to take care of him."

"I'll take him." He said without a second thought. The building he would be living in in Tokyo allowed cats; he distinctly remembered that from one of the letters.

"I figured you would, I just didn't want to…"

"Ask, and then find out I couldn't?"

"Do you want money to take care of him? I know that Tokyo can be pretty expensive sometimes, and I still feel like I need to do something for him at least. I know that you practically own him too, but I don't know, I just know I'm going to miss him. I don't want to leave...him." She added quietly.

"Just him, huh?" He teased, but there was a gentle edge to his voice.

She punched him in the shoulder, and rested her head against his arms.

"Stop it," she whined. He brought one of his arms around her, and pulled her closer. "I'm going to be half-way across the world, and you're going to be a bunch of hours away. I mean we can...we can video chat, and stuff still, but I mean...I won't have my dad, or anyone really."

"You still have all of us, shhh….don't get upset, it'll be fine." He stroked her hair back gently, brushing through her curls.

"C'mon, I'm not a...a dog or something, and I'm not that panicked. Just...just a little upset I guess." Her muffled words came from tucked into his side now. "And upset that you aren't softer." She moved her head around, trying to find a good position on his side, and chest to lie her head against.

"Softer?" He chuckled.

"You're…" she prodded his side, "You're just too muscley, and stuff. I appreciate that, I really, _really_ do about ninety eight percent of the time, but sometimes I just want a pillow, and I just have to remember 'Oh, my boyfriend is super muscular, and actually in shape unlike me, whoops I wish I could use myself as a pillow', but then-"

He swooped down, and shushed her for a moment with a rushed kiss.

"I'm sorry I'm not soft."

Firinne chuckled, and draped her legs across his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him close until their noses were touching. Then, she pushed him back again, and prodded at his face for a moment with her hands.

"Your face is soft."

"Is that a good thing?"

"So are your hands though."

"I like how soft you are. If that's an alri-"

"I like how soft I am too." She excitedly rubbed her arm with a big, gappy, smile. "It's like baby skin. I guess that's what I get for having kid hands." She held up small hands, turning them over, and around.

"Well," he encaptured her hand with his own, "I like your 'kid' hands."

She giggled, and took her legs off of him, and crossed them.

Then she laughed again, and crossed her arms.

*The entire day of hiking, swimming, and adventures was over with too soon for Firinne or Mako to like.

Firinne stretched her arms up and yawned, watching Mako bend over, and fiddle with the zipper to the tent. Sighing, she cracked her neck, and walked to the opposite side of the door to the tent, and unzipped it about halfway. She reached a hand out to smack Mako from behind, and he stood straight up blushing harder than he had in a while.

"Wh-wha-! Firinne!" He tripped over the half-open tent flap to try to catch her, and succeeded in falling onto his face.

She covered her giggles with a hand over her mouth, and plopped onto the ground in front of him.

"Were you saying something?" She smirked.

He groaned, and sat up, holding a hand over his mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she leaned forward looking sincere, "Did you hurt yourself? Are you alright?"

Before she could notice the glint in his eyes, he tackled her back onto the mounds, and mounds of pillows, blankets, and sleeping bags they had brought with them. Her yelp of surprise turned into a fit of giggles as he attacked her neck, and collar with his mouth.

"Mako!" She screeched, splaying her hands over his shoulders. "Y-you know...that I-I…" she forced words out between laughter, and staggered breaths. He finally pulled away, and shifted their positions so she was resting with half of her body draped over his, still breathing heavily. They pushed their foreheads together, and smiled softly. Firinne gave him a small peck, and went to shift herself again to stand.

"Wait," Makoto held her back, and held her eyes, "**I've had a wonderful time today**."

She felt her face heat up a little, and admired his English.

"I like how you look at me." She sighed, letting her head rest in the crook of his neck.

"How is that?"

"It's the same way you look when you're swimming; only a little softer."

(!)He chuckled lightly, and pulled her head toward him, kissing her passionately, yet softly at first. Both became increasingly rough until they were nearly out of breath.

Mako seemed to realize that his hands had travelled up the back of her shirt, and rested on the back of her bra. He shrunk back, making a small squeaking noise as his face lit up.

"You've seen me without a shirt on Mako, this is okay." Firinne brought her hands down to rest on his forearms reassuringly.

"Yeah, but th-that was an accident!" He stammered out.

"If you don't want to go this far that's alright."

He shook his head quickly, and lifted her shirt slightly.

"I want you." He breathed with a gravelly undertone that made her shiver.

She brought her shirt over shoulders, and leaned back. Mako's hands slowly travelled to the front of her as he leaned over her body. They trailed up to the burgundy lace, and felt the cold, metal clasp in the front. Her back arched, and goosebumps raised on her skin as his mouth fell to her bare chest.

One hand felt over her soft pale skin, and the other grazed down her side to the hem of her loose shorts, and kneaded them. Navigating her own hands around him she undid one button, two, and then the third.

*I'm going to be making a little on/off series about them, and specifically this day.

-Also sorry this is late, but life was..well life for the past month.

-If you want an 'extended' version of the end of this chapter tell me in the reviews or message me! I'd be happy to, but I'll post it to the mini-series I'm starting with this story (which I need to figure out a name to hmm)

Thank you for staying with me through this I love you all!


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